PANAMA 

AND-ITS-BRIDGE 
OF  *  WATER 


NIDA 


0°  120° 


0     . 


180°  1 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


Revised, 


COMMERCIAL  HIGHWAYS 
OF  THE  WORLD 


important  K.anways______ 

Important  Steamship  Lines(density  of  traffic^ 
Steamship  Lines -Panama  Canal 


Cofyright,  l<)10,  by  Hand    Mi-Natty   it  Company 


PANAMA 
AND 
ITS 

"BRIDGE 
OF  WATER 


"The  Isthmus  of  Panama,  formerly  a  part 
of  Castella  del  Oro,  is  the  gateway  to  the  Pacific 
and  the  front  door  of  the  three  Americas,  to  which 
the  Antilles  lead  up  as  stepping  stones.  For 
migration,  commerce,  or  war,  the  Isthmus  of 
America,  with  or  without  a  canal,  is  the  most 
important  strategic  point  in  the  world." 


ATLANTIC      0  C  E  A 


A  relief  map  of  the  Canal  Zone 


PANAMA  AND  ITS 
"BRIDGE  OF  WATER" 


By 
STELLA  HUMPHREY  NIDA 


Illustrated 


RAND  McNALLY  &  COMPANY 
CHICAGO  NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  1915, 
By  RAND  MCNALLY  &  COMPANY 


Chicago 


IJ 


THE  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

A  Foreword      . 9 

T/K?  Introduction  .  11 


PART  I 

THE  LAND  OF  THE  PANAMANIANS 
INTRODUCTORY     .     .     .     .     .........     17 

EARLY  HISTORY 

The  Arrival  of  the  Spaniards 21 

THE  BUCCANEERS 

When  Drake  and  Morgan  Sailed  the  Seas     ....     32 
GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  ISTHMUS 

Panamanian  Products  and  People 42 

THE  PANAMA  RAILROAD 

The  First  Railroad  across  America 63 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  A  CANAL 

The  Beginnings  of  a  Great  Waterway 70 

DE  LESSEPS'  FAILURE 

A  Costly  Experiment     .     .....     .     .     .     .     .     78 

PART  II 

COMING  OF  THE  AMERICANS 
CLEANING  UP  THE  CANAL  ZONE 

War  on  Disease,  the  First  Great  Task      ....       87 

7 


8  The  Contents 

PAGE 

THE  GATUN  DAM  AND  THE  LOCKS 

The  "Steps"  to  the  "Bridge  of  Water" 100 

CULEBRA  CUT  AND  THE  SLIDES 

A  Knotty  Problem Ill 

How  THE  GOVERNMENT  CARED  FOR  HER  EMPLOYEES 

The  "Labor  Question"  Answered  . 126 

LEADERS  IN  THE  PROJECT 

The  Men  to  Whom  We  Owe  the  Panama  Canal  .  .  148 
THE  ZONE  A  MILITARY  RESERVATION 

How  "Uncle  Sam"  Protects  His  Interests  ....  166 
THE  CANAL  AS  A  COMMERCIAL  HIGHWAY 

How  It  Promotes  Our  Trade 174 

THE  PANAMA-PACIFIC  EXPOSITION 

America's  Triumphal  Celebration 182 

A  Guide  to  Pronunciation 188 

The  Glossary 189 

Suggestions  to  Teachers 191 

A  Bibliography  .  195 


A  FOREWORD 

THE  story  of  a  raging  stream  made  navigable,  of  a 
mountain  chain  bridged  by  an  artificial  stream 
of  water,  of  climatic  conditions  overcome,  and  of 
swamps  and  jungles  made  a  healthful  dwelling 
place  reads  like  a  romance,  but  such  is  the  history 
of  the  building  of  the  Panama  Canal.  It  was  the 
conviction  of  the  author  in  writing  this  story  for 
young  people  that  it  should  be  a  familiar  tale  to 
every  school  child  of  the  grammar  grades. 

The  geography  and  history  of  the  past  is  largely 
the  story  of  man  adapting  himself  to  natural  condi- 
tions. In  the  old  days  physiographic  features,  such 
as  rivers  and  mountains,  determined  routes  of 
travel  and  commerce.  While  their  effect  is  still 
important,  the  coming  of  steam  and  electric  power 
has  helped  man  to  conquer  nature  to  an  astonishing 
degree.  Deserts  are  traversed  by  the  iron  horse, 
rivers  spanned  by  monster  bridges,  and  mountains 
pierced  by  tunnels.  Arid  regions  are  irrigated  and 
made  to  yield  abundantly  and  great  hills  are  leveled 
to  plains.  The  men  of  the  future,  instead  of  search- 
ing for  natural  routes,  will  go  about  making  their 
own  where  they  will.  The  explorer  has  given  place 
to  the  engineer. 

This  gives  a  new  trend  to  the  study  of  geography. 
Emphasis  is  now  placed  upon  the  human  side  of 

9 


10  A  Foreword 

geography,  upon  the  mastery  of  the  world's  trade 
routes.  For  instance,  rivers  that  are  of  commercial 
value  have  a  human  interest,  while  little  attention 
is  paid  to  those  that  are  not  navigable,  because  they 
are  of  no  service  in  the  progress  of  mankind.  The 
conditions  that  have  helped  to  make  a  city  great 
are  of  more  importance  to  us  than  the  mere  fact  of 
the  city's  greatness,  for  we  shall  always  be  building 
other  great  cities. 

To  build  the  Canal  required  the  best  thought  of 
scientists,  engineers,  and  statesmen.  Hundreds  of 
our  citizens  who  were  American  school  children  a 
generation  ago  played  an  important  part  in  the 
undertaking.  It  took  courage,  honest  service,  un- 
selfishness, and  great  faith  to  gain  this  superb 
conquest.  What  better  ideals  for  our  coming  citizens? 

S.H.N. 


THE  INTRODUCTION 

THE  building  of  the  Panama  Canal  brought 
together  on  the  Isthmus  a  great  army  of  men, 
splendidly  organized  and  pursuing  a  peaceful  con- 
quest with  all  the  energy,  valor,  and  heroism  that 
might  characterize  a  decisive  battle  in  warfare. 
But  instead  of  an  opposing  army  of  regiments,  the 
attack  was  directed  against  mountains,  swamps,  and 
diseases. 

The  results  of  that  conquest,  as  measured  in  terms 
of  service  to  our  country,  can  be  compared  only  to  the 
heroic  services  of  our  greatest  wars.  As  a  nation  we 
are  indebted  to  every  man  who  faithfully  performed 
his  duties  on  the  Canal.  Many  endured  privations, 
and  some  even  met  death,  but  always  with  the  same 
dauntless  courage  that  has  ever  led  men  of  like 
spirit  to  charge  the  ramparts  of  an  enemy. 

It  was  a  battle  against  nature, — and  the  patriotism 
revealed  was  as  strong  and  as  real  as  has  been  any 
in  our  proud  history.  As  a  national  achievement 
it  is  worthy  of  primary  consideration  in  our  public 
schools,  and  in  providing  this  school  text  the  author 
has  made  no  small  contribution  to  our  nation's  good. 
She  has  possessed  the  ''Canal  spirit"  to  a  remarkable 
degree,  and  has  given  the  narrative  vividness  in  spite 
of  its  broad  scope.  The  text  is,  in  itself,  a  tribute 
to  the  author's  exhaustive  and  discriminating  study 

ll 


12  The  Introduction 

of  the  world's  greatest  and  most  fascinating  cam- 
paign of  engineering.  Having  the  advantage  of  a 
personal  acquaintance  with  varied  features  of  the 
Canal  enterprise,  I  am  convinced  that  this  book  will 
give  to  the  school  children  a  correct  understanding 
of  the  subject,  and  will  increase  their  interest  in,  and 
respect  for,  our  nation's  greatness. 

The  history  of  any  great  achievement  is  the 
biography  of  its  leaders.  The  story  of  the  Panama 
Canal  is  the  record  of  the  deeds  of  great  men  who 
were  supported  by  the  patriotic  devotion  of  an  army. 
The  Canal  record  of  brilliancy  and  honor  is  a  long 
one,  and  no  page  stands  out  with  more  credit  to  the 
American  nation  than  that  one  which  records  our 
government's  marked  interest  in  the  highest  moral, 
as  well  as  physical,  welfare  of  the  men  whom  she 
sent  into  most  trying  and  depressing  conditions 
in  the  heart  of  the  tropics.  Such  an  expression  of 
Christian  ideals  has  been  noted  by  the  nations  of 
the  world  as  truly  as  our  achievements  in  sanitation 
and  engineering. 

A.  BRUCE  MINEAR 

Superintendent  of  Club  Houses 

and 
General  Secretary,  Y.M.C.A. 


THE  LAND 
OF  THE 

PANAMANIANS 


"When  the  last  dike  was  blown  up  at  Gam- 
boa  and  the  water  of  Gatun  Lake  was  allowed  to 
rush  into  the  Cut,  it  marked  a  new  era  in  the 
history  of  the  race.  For  countless  ages  the 
narrow  strip  of  land  which  is  the  Isthmus  had 
been  soaked  with  human  blood  —  sodden  with  the 
romance  of  olden  days.  This  Canal  of  ours 
stands  for  the  new  and  better  times.  The  old 
romance  of  brawn  and  blood  has  given  place  to 
the  romance  of  brains." 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

S.S.  "Cristobal,"  the  first  ocean-going  liner  to  pass  through 
the  Panama  Canal 


PANAMA   AND   ITS 
"BRIDGE  OF  WATER" 

INTRODUCTORY 

ON  the  seventh  day  of  January,  1914,  a 
certain  boat  made  a  short  voyage  of 
fifty  miles  in  which  all  the  world  was  inter- 
ested. This  boat,  by  sailing  through  the 
new  Panama  Canal  from  the  Pacific  Ocean 
to  the  Atlantic,  proved  that  the  United  States 
government  had  successfully  completed  the 
most  wonderful  piece  of  engineering  known 
to  history. 

The  Panama  Canal  cuts  in  two  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama,  which  joins  North  America  and 
South  America.  It  would  take  a  railroad 
locomotive  going  at  ordinary  speed  less  than 
two  hours  to  travel  across  this  narrow  isth- 
mus, but,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  fifty 
miles  of  waterway  has  cost  the  United  States 
$375,000,000  in  money,  six  thousand  lives, 

2  17 


18      Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

and  ten  years  of  the  hardest  and  bravest 
struggle. 

It  is  difficult  to  think  in  terms  of  millions. 
Can  you  imagine  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  the  United  States  bringing  four  silver 
dollars  and  placing  them  in  a  heap?  It 
would  be  a  mountain  of  money,  and  it  would 
take  it  all  to  pay  for  this  wonderful  Canal. 
It  would  take  seven  millions  of  these  dollars 
to  pay  for  one  mile  of  the  Canal,  or  about 
six  thousand  dollars  for  a  strip  of  it  as  long 
as  your  foot  ruler. 

The  Canal  will  be  of  great  value  to  the 
world's  commerce  by  shortening  the  distance 
from  the  western  coast  of  Europe  and  the 
eastern  coast  of  the  United  States  to  the 
western  shores  of  North  and  South  America 
and  to  the  coasts  of  Asia  and  Australia.  It 
will  save  a  great  deal  of  time  and  money. 
In  order  to  pay  for  its  upkeep  it  must  earn 
more  than  a  million  dollars  a  month  by 
charging  ships  a  toll  for  their  passage. 

For  four  hundred  years  the  world  has  been 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        19 

wishing  for  a  canal  across  the  Isthmus.    Why 
was  it  not  built  long  ago?    Our  government 


Adapted  from  Barrett,  "Panama  Canal:  What  It  Is,  What  It  Means" 

The  same  amount  of  excavation  as  that  of  the  Panama  Canal  would 

make  a  tunnel,  14  feet  in  diameter  and  8,000  miles  long, 

which  would  cut  through  the  center  of  the  earth 

is  tunneling  beds  for  rivers  through  moun- 
tains, building  great  artificial  lakes,  and 
reclaiming  miles  of  sandy  desert  larger  than 
the  whole  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Why  was 
it  so  stupendous  a  task  to  build  this  short 
strip  of  waterway?  Let  us  go  back  four 
hundred  years,  and  learn  the  whole  story 
of  the  enterprise. 


Christopher  Columbus,  from  a  portrait  supposed  to  have 
been  painted  by  Jan  Van  Eyck  of  Bruges 


EARLY  HISTORY 

THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  SPANIARDS 

Columbus  spent  some  time  on  his  last  voy- 
age to  America  sailing  on  Limon  Bay,  which 
is  at  the  Atlantic  entrance  to  the  Canal.  He 
also  explored  the  Chagres  River.  Columbus 
is  usually  given  credit  for  first  exploring  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  the  two  cities  of 
Colon  and  Cristobal  are  named  for  him. 
Four  years  before  this  time,  however,  another 


A*  SALVADOR 
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A     T    L    A    N    T    I    C 


OCEAN 


The  voyages  of  Columbus  to  the  New  World 
21 


22    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

Spaniard,  Rodrigo  de  Bastides,  had  visited 
the  shores  of  the  mainland  of  America  at  the 


The  "Santa  Maria"  the  flagship  of  Columbus 

Isthmus.  With  him  was  Balboa,  who  later 
became  governor  of  the  first  settlement  at 
Nombre  de  Dios  in  1509. 

The  settlement  at  Nombre  de  Dios  was  the 
first  made  on  the  continent  of  America.  It 
was  founded  fifty-four  years  before  the  settle- 
ment at  St.  Augustine,  and  nearly  a  hundred 
years  before  that  at  Jamestown.  So  Panama 
is  the  white  man's  first  home  in  America. 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        23 


A  portrait  of  Balboa,  published  by  courtesy  of  the  "Bay  View 
Magazine"  and  the  Pan  American  Union 

Balboa  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  white 
man   to   discover   the   Pacific  Ocean.    He 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        25 


married  an  Indian  princess,  and  profited  by 
it,  for  the  Indians  became  his  fast  friends. 
They  kept  telling  him  of  the  gold  and  pre- 
cious stones  he  might  obtain  not  far  away 
on  the  other  coast,  but  for  some  time  he  was 
afraid  to  cross  the  mountainous  jungle.  At 
last  he  started  out  with  one  hundred  and 


ATLANTIC 
^\V    OCEAN 


OCEAN 


Cuzcb 


Routes  of  early  voyagers  to  Panama 


26    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

ninety  men.    They  traveled  very  slowly,  at 
the  rate  of  about  two  miles  a  day,  and  reached 


Courtesy  of  the  Pan  American  Union 

Balboa  taking  possession  of  the  Pacific  in  the  name  of  Spain, 
from  the  bronze  frieze  in  the  Pan  American  Building 

the  Pacific  coast  in  September,  1513.  Balboa 
took  possession  of  the  ocean  in  the  name  of 
Spain,  and  called  it  the  "  South  Sea." 

When  he  returned  to  Nombre  de  Dios, 
about  five  months  later,  he  found  in  his  place 
a  new  governor,  named  Pedrarias.  The  two 
men  did  not  get  on  well  together.  Balboa 
made  other  trips  to  the  Pacific,  carrying 
the  parts  of  ships.  These  he  put  together 
again,  and  sailed  upon  that  great  body  of 
water.  But  in  1519  Pedrarias  succeeded  in 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        27 

having  him  beheaded  under  a  false  charge, 
and  the  real  founder  of  Panama  was  no  more. 
In  the  year  of  Balboa's  death — a  whole 
century  before  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Ply- 
mouth— the  old  city  of  Panama  was  founded 
on  the  Pacific  coast. 

In  1532  Francisco  Pizarro  led  an  expedition 
southward  from  Panama  on  the  Pacific  coast 
and  conquered  the  Incas,  a  remarkable  tribe 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood.  N.  Y. 

"Flat  Arch"  ruins  of  Santo  Domingo  church,  city  of  Panama. 

This  arch,  said  to  be  the  longest  flat  arch  in  the  world, 

has  stood  more  than  two  hundred  years 


28    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

of   Indians   who   lived   in   splendor   in   the 
mountains    of   Peru.     They    had    immense 


Francisco  Pizarro,  from  an  old  engraving 

treasures  of  gold  and  silver  and  jewels  which 
adorned  their  temples,  and  all  this  wealth  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards.  Extensive 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        29 

mines  of  gold  and  silver  were  discovered, 
and  soon  great  quantities  of  the  precious 
metals  were  being  carried  to  Spain  by  way 
of  Panama. 

To  get  this  treasure  to  Spain  more  easily 
the  Royal  Road  was  built  across  the  Isthmus. 
This  road  was  paved  with  stone  and  extended 
between  the  cities  of  Nombre  de  Dios,  Porto 
Bello,  and  Panama.  It  was  said  to  be  wide 
enough  to  accommodate  two  carts  abreast, 
but  it  was  used  chiefly  by  the  trains  of  pack 
mules  that  crossed  in  caravans,  carrying 
treasure  and  merchandise  to  and  from  the 
king's  ships. 

After  the  palaces  and  the  temples  of  the 
Incas  were  stripped  of  gold,  the  silver  mines 
of  Peru  yielded  great  wealth.  Pearls  were 
brought  from  the  islands  in  the  Pacific,  pre- 
cious stones  from  the  Andes,  and  dyewood 
from  the  coast  was  exchanged  for  the  mer- 
chandise brought  from  Spain  to  the  colonists. 
The  Spanish  galleons,  or  warships,  armed  with 
from  forty  to  fifty  guns,  guarded  the  fleet  of 


30    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water 


merchantmen  that  every  year  carried  the 
king's  treasure  across  the  Atlantic  to  Spain, 


C.  M.  Peacock,  photographer 

A  cave  near  the  site  of  the  old  city  of  Panama  which  is  believed 
to  have  been  used  as  a  hiding-place  for  treasure 

for  the  course  was  beset  with  pirates.  The 
English  allowed  the  Spaniards  to  encounter  all 
the  hardships  in  securing  the  treasure,  and 
then  lay  in  wait  to  take  it  from  them. 

Although  Morgan  and  Drake  were  just 
plain,  everyday  pirates,  Morgan  was  actually 
knighted  for  his  daring  robberies  on  the  seas 
and  on  the  Isthmus.  Morgan  and  Drake 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        31 

justified  their  unlawful  deeds  by  claiming 
that  England  was  at  war  with  Spain,  and 
there  was  also  the  feud  between  the  Protes- 
tants and  the  Catholics  to  offer  as  an  excuse 
for  this  lawlessness. 

About  a  hundred  years  after  the  founding 
of  Nombre  de  Dios  the  Spaniards  settled 
Porto  Bello  in  a  more  healthful  spot  on  the 
Atlantic  coast,  and  removed  bag  and  baggage 
to  this  fine  port.  A  yearly  fair  was  held 
regularly  at  Porto  Bello,  and  at  that  time  the 
people  crowded  there  for  several  weeks,  while 
the  mule  trains  were  arriving  from  Panama 
and  the  treasure  was  being  loaded  upon  the 
king's  ships.  Merchants  exchanged  their 
wares  for  the  products  brought  by  the  col- 
onists, and  the  trade  grew  year  by  year,  until, 
it  is  said,  it  reached  the  immense  sum  of 
two  hundred  million  dollars.  For  many  years 
Spain  lived  on  the  wealth  brought  from 
America  and  the  Peruvian  mines. 


THE  BUCCANEERS 

WHEN  DRAKE  AND  MORGAN  SAILED  THE  SEAS 

SIR  FRANCIS  DRAKE,  when  a  lad  of 
eighteen,  sailed  on  the  West  Indian 
Seas  with  his  uncle.  They  nearly  lost  their 
lives  through  the  treachery  of  the  Spaniards, 
and  for  the  rest  of  his  days  Sir  Francis  seems 
to  have  devoted  his  energies  to  getting  even 
with  that  hated  nation.  A  few  years  later, 
when  he  had  obtained  a  vessel  of  his  own,  he 
landed  with  a  troop  of  young  men  at  Nombre 
de  Dios.  He  captured  the  batteries,  and  be- 
fore the  Spaniards  knew  what  he  was  doing, 
he  had  secured  a  position  where  he  could 
charge  on  the  city.  Instead  of  resisting,  the 
Spaniards  fled.  When  Drake's  men  found 
the  treasure  house  so  easily  at  their  mercy, 
they  scarcely  knew  how  to  proceed,  and  just 
as  all  the  wealth  was  within  their  grasp  they 
lost  their  heads. 

32 


Sir  Francis  Drake 


34    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

A  drenching  tropical  shower  came  up  sud- 
denly and  with  such  fury  that  they  thought 
they  were  all  going  to  be  drowned.  Drake, 
who  had  received  a  slight  wound  in  the 
skirmish,  fainted,  and  his  men  fled  in  confu- 
sion, dragging  him  with  them  back  to  their 
ships  and  carrying  away  only  a  small  part  of 
the  booty  within  their  reach. 

When  Drake  revived  he"  was  naturally 
very  much  chagrined  at  the  outcome,  but  he 
went  to  work  on  a  plan  to  waylay  on  the 
Royal  Road  one  of  the  mule  trains  due  to 
cross  the  Isthmus  with  the  court  treasure  at 
about  this  time.  He  first  made  friends  with 
the  Maroon  Indians,  who  served  as  his 
guides.  Under  their  direction,  Drake's  men 
made  the  trip  safely  to  Cruces,  about  half- 
way across  the  Isthmus.  A  little  beyond  this 
point  they  lay  in  wait  for  the  treasure 
train.  Soon  mule  bells  were  heard  tinkling 
on  the  Royal  Road.  All  made  ready,  and 
the  surprise  would  have  been  complete  had 
not  one  of  Drake's  men  misunderstood  one 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        35 

of  the  signals  given  and  allowed  himself  to 
be  seen  by  one  of  the  Spanish  horsemen. 


King  Bros.,  photographers 

Cathedral  tower  of  St.  Augustine.     The  church  of  which  the 
tower  formed  a  part  was  destroyed  by  Morgan,  1671 

At  this  the  Spaniards  became  suspicious 
and  advised  a  ruse.  Usually  the  treasure  of 
the  caravan  was  carried  by  the  first  fourteen 
mules,  which  went  well  in  advance.  In  this 
case  these  were  sent  to  the  rear,  and  mules 
loaded  with  grain  and  baggage  were  driven 
on  ahead.  When  Drake's  men  fell  upon  the 
baggage  train  the  mules  in  the  rear  were  made 


36    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water'9 

to  retreat,  and  were  hurried  back  to  Panama 
at  full  speed,  thus  saving  the  treasure. 

When  Drake  realized  that  he  had  been 
outwitted  he  let  it  be  understood  that  he 
had  left  the  Isthmus;  but  instead  of  doing 
this  he  joined  a  French  pirate.  Then,  with 
a  small  body  of  men  they  hurried  back  toward 
Nombre  de  Dios.  Here,  within  hailing  dis- 
tance of  the  town,  they  seized  another  mule 
train  and  secured  one  hundred  thousand 


C.  M.  Peacock,  photographer 

All  that  is  left  of  old  Spanish  cannon  as  they  fell  from  their 
rotting  carriages  at  Porto  Bella 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        37 


dollars  in  gold  and  silver.    The  story  goes 

that  a  large  part  of  this  booty  had  to  be 

hastily  buried  before  the 

Spaniards  recovered  and 

came  back  to  retake 

their  treasure.    Later, 

Drake  raided  Nombre  de 

Dios  again,  and  burned 

the  city. 

Drake's  raids  were  sec- 
ond only  to  those  of 
Henry  Morgan,  another 
Englishman,  who,  a  few 
years  later,  attacked 
Porto  Bello.  He  blew  up 
the  fort,  with  all  the 
soldiers  inside.  He  made  the  nuns  and 
friars  prisoners,  and  forced  them  to  place 
against  the  walls  of  the  castle  the  scaling 
ladders,  by  means  of  which  he  captured  it. 
For  fifteen  days  he  tortured  the  colonists,  but 
at  last  accepted  a  ransom  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars  and  returned  to  the  West  Indies, 


Copyright  by  Underwood  & 
Underwood,  N.Y. 

Watchtower,  old  fort, 
San  Lorenzo 


38    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

where  he  spent  the  money  in  riotous  living. 

When  this  money  was  gone,  Morgan  took 
San  Lorenzo  near  the  mouth  of  the  Chagres 
River  and  crossed  the  Isthmus  to  take  the 
city  of  Panama.  Without  the  leadership 
of  the  Indians  who  assisted  Drake,  Morgan 
and  his  men  suffered  greatly  on  the  march 
across  the  Isthmus.  Lost  in  the  jungles  and 
the  swamps,  much  of  the  time  without  food, 
they  were  bitten  by  poisonous  spiders  and 
snakes,  trapped  in  the  quicksands,  and  made 
ill  with  fever.  They  reached  Panama  in  a 
weak  and  wretched  condition.  On  the  savan- 
nas before  the  city  were  the  cattle  of  the 
Panamanians.  Morgan's  men  killed  these 
and  gorged  themselves  on  the  meat  before 
it  was  half  roasted. 

When  at  last  they  succeeded  in  entering 
the  city  they  found  that  ships  had  been 
loaded  with  the  treasure  and  valuables  of 
the  natives  and  that  these  ships  had  disap- 
peared. Some  writers  say  that  they  had 
been  sunk  in  the  harbor.  At  any  rate,  the 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        39 

treasure  was  safe  from  the  buccaneers.    Mor- 
gan took  his  revenge  by  torturing  the  citizens, 


C.  M.  Peacock,  photographer 

A  remnant  of  the  old  Spanish  colonial  fortifications.     These 

cost  so  much  that  King  Philip  is  reported  to  have  said 

they  ought  to  be  visible  from  his  palace  in  Madrid 

killing  many  of  them.  Then  he  burned  the 
old  city  of  Panama  to  the  ground. 

The  new  city  of  that  name,  which  is  now 
nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  old,  was 
built  several  miles  from  the  old  city  at  a 
point  where  it  could  be  strongly  fortified. 

For  many  years  the  Spaniards  invaded 
Mexico,  Central  America,  and  South  America, 


40    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water 


not  for  purposes  of  agriculture — though  there 
is  no  place  where  the  earth  gives  back  so 
much  for  so  little  labor — but  to  establish 
towns  where  they  could  sell  their  merchan- 
dise. For  a  century  or  more,  the  wealth 
obtained  from  Peru  and  the  Pacific  islands 
was  carried  across  the  Isthmus  to  the  cof- 
fers of  Spain,  until  the  mines  were  at  last 
exhausted.  Then  the  richest  highway  the 
world  has  ever  known,  the  Royal  Road,  was 


C.  M.  Peacock,  photographer 

An  old  Spanish  bridge  on  the  road  from  old  Panama  to 
Panama  City 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        41 

allowed  to  grow  up  to  jungle  vines  and  flowers. 
To-day  the  Royal  Road  may  be  seen  in  spots 


C.  M.  Peacock,  photographer 

Ruins  near  the  old  city  of  Panama 

near  the  Canal  Zone,  though  its  course,  like 
the  route  Balboa  is  said  to  have  taken,  lies 
in  some  places  many  miles  from  the  Zone. 


GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  ISTHMUS 

PANAMANIAN  PRODUCTS  AND  PEOPLE 

AS  we  have  said,  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
is  a  narrow  strip  of  land  connecting 
North  America  and  South  America.  Unless 
we  study  the  map,  however,  we  are  sure  to 
think  of  it  as  extending  north  and  south, 
when  in  reality  it  extends  nearly  east  and 
west.  It  sounds  very  strange  to  people  living 
in  the  United  States  to  speak  of  the  sun  rising 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  setting  in  the  Atlan- 
tic, but  this  is  actually  the  case  at  one  place 
on  the  shores  of  Panama  Bay;  for  the  Gulf 
of  Panama  is  an  arm  of  the  Pacific  and  lies 
directly  east  of  a  portion  of  the  Caribbean 
Sea,  which  is  a  part  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
When  Balboa  crossed  the  Isthmus  he  went  in 
a  southerly  direction,  and  that  is  why  he 
called  the  ocean  he  discovered  the  South  Sea. 
All  this  is  to  help  us  remember  that  the 

42 


44    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

Canal  takes  a  southeasterly  direction  from 
Colon  on  the  Atlantic  coast  to  Panama  on  the 
Pacific.  If  we  want  to  fix  the  city  of  Panama 
in  our  minds  we  can  think  of  it  as  being  due 
south  of  Buffalo,  New  York,  or  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania. 

Perhaps  you  will  be  surprised  to  know  that 
the  Canal  is  not  built  acro'ss  the  narrowest 
part  of  the  Isthmus,  which  is  at  the  Gulf  of 
San  Bias,  sixty  miles  east  of  Colon.  At  that 
point  it  is  only  thirty  miles  wide.  Why  did 
we  choose  a  route  twenty  miles  longer? 

In  the  first  place,  by  the  San  Bias  route 
there  is  no  large  river  to  help  furnish  the 
waterway,  so  the  amount  of  digging  would 
have  been  much  greater,  because  the  "back- 
bone of  the  continent "  is  more  than  twice 
as  high  at  this  narrow  part.  Besides  this, 
there  has  never  been  a  road  of  any  kind  made 
through  the  jungle  at  San  Bias,  while  at  Colon 
there  was  a  beaten  path,  some  of  it  four  hun- 
dred years  old.  The  railroad  which  had  been 
built  at  Colon  was  also  a  deciding  factor. 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        45 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood.  N.Y. 

Falls  on  the  Rio  Chorrera,  about  twenty  miles  west  of 
Panama  City 

The  Republic  of  Panama  is  a  trifle  smaller 
than  the  state  of  Indiana.  It  is  composed 
of  seven  states,  the  most  important  of  which 
are  Bocas  del  Toro,  Chiriqui,  Colon,  and 
Panama.  Panama  comprises  one  third  of 
the  whole  republic,  and  across  this  state 
stretches  the  Canal  Zone. 

The  Canal  Zone  is  a  strip  of  land  extending 
five  miles  on  each  side  of  the  middle  line  of 


46    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

the  "big  ditch."    It  is,  therefore,  ten  miles 
wide  and  reaches  from  deep  water  in  one 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

Native  soldiers  who  help  guard  the  Republic  of  Panama 

ocean  to  deep  water  in  the  other,  or  a  distance 
of  about  fifty  miles.  Over  this  Zone  the 
United  States  government  has  absolute  con- 
trol, except  for  the  two  Panamanian  cities 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        47 


of  Colon  on  the  Atlantic  coast  and  Panama 
on  the  Pacific.    However,  the  United  States 


Map  of  the  Canal  Zone 

has  the  right  in  these  cities  to  dictate  all 
measures  relating  to  sanitation  and  health. 

The  state  of  Panama  is  only  nine  degrees, 
or  some  six  hundred  miles,  from  the  equator, 
so  it  has  a  tropical  climate.  Though  the 


48    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

thermometer  at  times  registers  high,  it  seldom 
averages   above    eighty-six    degrees.    Dark- 


A  bird  's-eye  view  of  the  Canal  Zone 

ness  falls  suddenly,  without  twilight,  in  Pan- 
ama, and  the  nights  are  always  comfortable. 
It  is  sometimes  said  in  joke  that  there  are 
two  seasons  on  the  Isthmus,  a  rainy  and  a 
wet,  but  this  is  somewhat  exaggerated.  How- 
ever, the  rainfall  on  the  Atlantic  coast  is  about 
twelve  feet  yearly.  On  the  Pacific  it  is  about 
half  as  much. 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        49 


January,  February,  March,  and  sometimes 
April  are  the  only  dry  months.  About  the 
first  of  April 
or  May  light 
showers  fall 
daily,  or 
very  often, 
and  from 
June  to  De- 
cember come 
regular 


Photograph  from  the  New  York  Zoological  Society 

The  South  American  Tapir,  a  wild  animal 
of  Panama  whose  home  is  among 

T  h  e    s  u  n  the  f°rest  trees 

shines  brightly  between  showers,  but  work  is 
suspended  during  the  downpours.  Sometimes 
several  inches  of  rain  fall  within  a  few 
hours,  which  makes  raging  torrents  of  the 
streams  and  keeps  the  vegetation  always 
green  and  luxuriant.  It  also  keeps  the  ground 
in  a  swampy  condition.  In  some  places  the 
swamps  are  hundreds  of  feet  deep. 

Grass  grows  so  easily  here    that    fresh  - 
turned  earth  is  green  again  in  a  few  days. 


50    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

Seventy-five  varieties  of  orchids  grow  wild, 
with  a  great  variety  of  coleus   and   other 


Photograph  from  the  New  York  Zoological  Society 

A  queer  animal  that  lives  mainly  on  ants,  and  from  this  pecul- 
iarity gets  its  name — the  Great  Ant-Eater 

tropical  plants.  One  season's  growth  buries 
everything,  even  houses,  if  undisturbed.  A 
French  village  large  enough  to  shelter  a  thou- 
sand people  was  dug  out  of  the  jungle  after 
only  a  few  years  of  desertion. 

Many  fruits — bananas,  coconuts,  alligator 
pears,  mangoes — grow  wild.  The  big-animal 
life  of  Africa  is  not  found  in  Central  America, 
but  insect  life  is  here  in  great  variety.  Tapirs, 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        51 

ant-eaters,  the  iguana  or  lizard,  and  other 
queer  animals  abound,  while  deer  and  tiger 


Photograph  from  the  New  York  Zoological  Society 

The  Iguana,  one  of  the  largest  of  the  lizards,  is  a  harmless 
creature  despite  its  hideous  appearance 

cats  live  on  the  mountain  sides,  and  the 
streams  have  many  alligators.  Paroquets, 
humming  birds,  and  the  beautiful  white 
heron  are  common,  as  are  all  sorts  of  tropical 
birds  of  brilliant  plumage.  The  bites  of  the 
poisonous  spiders,  the  scorpion,  and  tarantula 
are  fatal  to  their  victims  unless  promptly 
treated  with  an  antidote.  The  coral  snake, 
too,  is  very  cotflmon.  After  the  Americans 


52    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water 


came,  the  Canal  Zone  was  soon  cleared  of 
dangerous  animal  life,   the  chief  of  which 

was  the  mos- 
quito. 

The  natives 
are  usually  of 
mixed  nation- 
alities—  Indi- 
ans, negroes, 
and  Span- 

Photograph  from  the  New  York  Zoological  Society          1  a  T  Q  S  .  .1.116 

The  Tamandua,  one  of  the  smaller  species    0          .  ,        , 

of  ant-eater  bpanisn     lan- 

guage is  spoken,  as  a  rule.  Most  of  the 
Indians  living  on  the  Isthmus  were  enslaved 
by  the  Spaniards  in  the  early  days  and  thus 
lost  their  identity,  but  there  is  still  one  tribe, 
known  as  the  San  f$las  Indians,  who  boast 
that  no  white  man  ever  stayed  all  night  in 
their  territory.  Their  women  are  most  care- 
fully guarded  and  are  seldom  seen.  The  men 
come  to  the  Zone  to  exchange  coconuts  for 
salt  and  other  commodities. 
The  native  Panamanian  of  the  lower  class 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        53 

takes  life  as  easily  as  possible.    Perhaps  one 
bright  day  two  young  natives  walk  off  together 


Photograph  from  the  New  York  Zoological  Society 

The  nine-banded  Armadillo,  one  of  the  best-known  of  tropical 
American  animals 

and  with  a  few  poles  build  a  thatched  hut 
in  the  jungle,  and  set  up  a  home.  Whatever 
they  lack  they  borrow  from  their  neighbors 
who  have  been  housekeeping  for  a  longer 
period.  Their  food  consists  chiefly  of  bana- 
nas and  coconuts,  which  grow  about  them  in 
the  wild  state.  They  do  very  little  cooking 
and  wear  little  clothing.  As  their  family 
grows  up,  the  children  help  gather  the  food 
that  grows  wild  for  them,  without  labor;  and 


54    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water 


since  there  is  no  effort  made  by  one  family 
to  outshine  its  neighbors,  there  is  little  to 

do  but  sleep  and  eat. 
Soon  this  family  helps 
start  others  to  house- 
keeping, and  so  their 
lazy,  simple  life  goes 
on.  The  natives  of 
the  tropics  are  not 
subject  to  the  fevers 
and  other  maladies 
that  assail  foreigners. 
Two  thirds  of  the 
There  is  a  great  variety 
of  undergrowth  and  many  valuable  hard 
woods,  like  mahogany  and  ebony.  Perhaps 
a  native  will  hollow  out  for  his  canoe  a 
mahogany  log  that  would  be  worth  thou- 
sands of  dollars  for  furniture  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the  railroad 
ties  in  the  early  days  were  made  of  these 
valuable  hard  woods  and  were  dug  up  years 
afterward  in  perfect  condition. 


Copyright  by  Underwood  & 
Underwood,  N.Y. 

A  charcoal  seller 

Isthmus  is  wooded. 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

Native  Indians  in  their  long  "dug-outs"  or  cayukas.     These 

"boats  "  are  hollowed  out  of  a  single  log  and  are  paddled  or 

poled  from  the  stern 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

Cholo  Indians  in  the  interior  of  Panama  pounding  rice  in  a 
wooden  mortar 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        57 

We   wonder,   perhaps,   why   these   costly 
woods  are  not  brought  to  the  United  States, 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y, 


A  street  in  a  native  village  just  outside  the  Canal  Zone 

where  they  are  so  highly  prized.  There  are 
several  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  if  a  man 
or  a  company  is  ready  to  buy  land  in  Panama 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  a  title  to  it. 
Then  there  are  no  bridges  or  roads  reaching 
back  into  the  country  to  help  in  getting  prod- 
ucts to  the  coast  where  they  may  be  shipped, 
and  it  is  just  as  difficult  to  get  machinery 
and  provisions  into  the  country  as  it  is  to 


n 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

Wash  day  on  the  Isthmus.    The  usual  way  the  work  is  done 
by  the  natives 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians      .  59 

get  the  products  out.    The  third  and  worst 
trouble  is  the  labor  question.    The  natives 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

Homes  in  the  banana  belt.    Here  Nature  provides  nearly 
everything  the  native  needs  and  he  will  not  work 

will  not  work,  no  matter  how  much  money 
you  offer  them.  It  is  said  a  native  family  is 
well  supplied  when  the  man  works  two  days 
a  week,  and  he  has  no  thought  of  laying  up 
anything  for  the  future.  Very  often  the 
father  of  a  family  starts  off  to  town  and 
does  enough  work  on  the  way  to  buy  a  few 


60   Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water'' 

needles  or  furnish  his  other  simple  needs. 
The  banana  industry  of  the  United  Fruit 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

Unloading   bananas  for  the  northern   markets.     These  are 

brought  from  the  interior  in  the  "dug-outs"  or  cayukas 

of  the  Indians 

Company  in  Bocas  del  Toro  is  the  biggest 
enterprise  in  the  republic.  The  company 
controls  good  harbors  and  brings  its  labor 
from  the  West  Indies.  The  Darien  Gold- 
Mining  Company  runs  a  small  steamer  every 
week  to  Panama.  They  also  bring  their 


62    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

labor  from  abroad,  but  the  cost  of  transporta- 
tion eats  up  their  profits.  Pineapples,  coco- 
nuts, vegetable  ivory,  rubber,  cacao,  and  the 
cabinet  woods  will  some  day  be  shipped  in 
quantities  to  the  United  States. 

Pearl  fishing  on  the  southern  coast  is  now 
a  profitable  industry.  The  mother-of-pearl 
alone  pays  the  expense  of  collecting  and 
the  real  pearls  are  clear  profit.  Twenty  or 
thirty  ships  with  their  diving  apparatus  are 
constantly  at  work  pearl  fishing  among  the 
islands  and  up  and  down  the  coasts. , 

There  are  fine  rubber  trees  growing  wild  in 
Darien.  Cattle  raising  is  a  paying  industry, 
for  the  many  juicy  grasses  feed  cattle  very 
cheaply  and  they  can  be  driven  to  a  shipping 
point.  At  Boquete  is  a  colony  raising  coffee. 


THE  PANAMA  RAILROAD 
THE  FIRST  RAILROAD  ACROSS  AMERICA 

THE  first  railroad  to  cross  the  American 
continent  was  that  built  across  the 
Isthmus  between  Colon  and  Panama  City. 
Probably  it  was  the  costliest  railroad  ever 
built,  for  less  than  fifty  miles  of  track  cost 
the  builders  seven  million  dollars  or  about 
$140,000  a  mile.  More  than  this,  it  is  often 
stated  that  every  tie  of  the  railroad  cost  a 
human  life.  However  much  this  may  be 
exaggerated,  it  is  true  that  thousands  of  lives 
were  sacrificed  to  the  undertaking. 

The  work  was  begun  in  1850  by  three 
Americans, — Aspinwall,  Chancy,  and  Stevens. 
The  first  train  went  over  the  track  in  January, 
1855.  Only  eight  miles  of  track  in  a  year! 
But  courage  won.  The  first  eight  miles 
were  the  hardest  to  build.  The  men  worked 
waist-deep  in  the  swamps,  chopping  away  the 

63 


64    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

tangled  undergrowth  with  their  lunches  tied 
to  their  hats  to  keep  them  from  mud  and 


C.  M.  Peacock,  photographer 

The  re-located  Panama  railroad,  looking  south  from  La  Pita 
cut,  where  the  road  is  built  on  a  high  level  around  Gold  Hill 

insects.  They  were  exposed  to  the  bites  of 
poisonous  snakes  and  spiders,  and  crazed  by 
swarms  of  mosquitoes.  Hundreds  died  from 
fever  and  other  diseases,  and  many  slipped 
from  sight  forever  in  the  treacherous  quick- 
sands. 
The  constant  summer  heat  and  rain,  with 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        65 

the  decaying  vegetation,  send  forth  a  poison- 
ous vapor  that  is  very  trying  to  foreigners. 


C.  M.  Peacock,  photographer 

A  section  of  the  embankment  over  which  the  Panama  railroad 
crosses  an  arm  of  Gatun  Lake 

The  Black  Swamp,  just  out  of  Colon,  is  still 
regarded  as  a  bottomless  pit,  while  some  of 
the  swamps  near  the  Atlantic  coast  are  known 
to  be  from  one  hundred  and  eighty  to  two 
hundred  feet  deep.  Tons  of  stone  and  cords 
of  wood  were  put  in  to  make  a  roadbed  for 
the  railroad,  but  the  greedy  earth  swallowed 
them  up  and  yawned  for  more.  Part  of  the 


66    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

road  across  the  swamp  was  virtually  built  on 
an  immense  pontoon  bridge. 

Under  these  conditions  it  was  next  to 
impossible  to  secure  labor.  Many  national- 
ities were  tried  without  success.  A  band  of 
Chinese  that  were  brought  over  were  so 
affected  by  the  horrors  of  the  jungle  that 
hundreds  of  them  committed  suicide. 

To  build  the  fifty  miles  of  track  the  builders 
had  to  overcome  not  only  bottomless  marshes 
but  tangled  jungles,  raging  streams,  and  rocky 
mountains,  while  disease  and  death  lurked 
on  every  hand.  The  numberless  streams 
made  many  bridges  necessary.  Most  of  the 
material  used  in  the  construction  work  was 
brought  from  great  distances.  Food,  metal, 
and  even  ties  were  brought  from  the  United 
States  and  England,  for  there  was  no  way  of 
preparing  the  wood  already  on  the  ground. 

Next  to  the  Canal  itself,  the  building  of  the 
railroad  was  a  most  remarkable  piece  of  engi- 
neering. It  is  said  that  the  road  earned  two 
million  dollars  while  it  was  being  built.  It 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        67 

was  about  half  done  during  the  time  that  the 
gold  seekers  were  rushing  to  California,  and 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

Lifting  a  span  of  the  Panama  railroad  bridge  at  Gamboa  to 

allow  the  passage  of  a  dredge  up  the  Chagres  River 

arm  of  Gatun  Lake 

because  there  was  no  other  road  crossing  the 
American  continent,  many  came  by  way  of 
the  Isthmus,  riding  as  far  as  the  railroad  was 
completed  and  finishing  the  journey  as  best 
they  might.  In  the  early  days,  twenty-five 
dollars  was  charged  for  a  single  fare  and  five 
cents  a  pound  for  baggage;  later,  the  rate 
was  reduced  to  $2.40  across  the  Isthmus,  or 
five  cents  a  mile. 


68   Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

When  the  United  States  built  her  first 
railroad  across  the  desert  in  1869  the  profits 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 


Panama  railroad  bridge  at  Gamboa  with  span  removed 

of  the  Panama  railroad  declined.  It  was 
purchased  by  the  French  in  1881  for  eighteen 
million  dollars,  and  later  sold  to  the  American 
government  when  it  took  over  the  Canal 
project  in  1904. 

While  work  on  the  Canal  was  going  on, 
seven  passenger  trains  crossed  the  Isthmus 
every  day.  The  trip  could  be  made  in  less 
than  an  hour  without  stops;  but  the  pas- 
senger trains  were  required  to  give  the  right 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        69 

of  way  to  the  dirt  trains,  except  on  a  very  few 
occasions.  Special  engines  and  cars  have  to 
be  built  for  this  road,  because  it  is  a  five-foot 
gauge,  which  means  that  the  rails  are  five 
feet  apart.  In  the  United  States,  on  the 
standard  gauge,  they  are  four  feet  eight  and 
one  half  inches  apart.  The  Canal  played 
havoc  with  part  of  the  roadbed,  so  that  a 
great  deal  of  money  was  spent  to  rebuild 
the  road  out  of  the  way  of  Gatun  Lake. 
When  a  few  gaps  are  filled  there  will  be 
railroad  communication  through  Mexico, 
Guatemala,  and  Nicaragua  to  Costa  Rica, 
which  last  country  joins  Panama.  In  time, 
the  Canal  will  be  reached  by  rail  from  the 
United  States.  In  connection  with  the  rail- 
road our  government  has  had  six  ships  plying 
between  New  York  and  Colon,  which  has 
been  the  only  line  to  the  Isthmus  flying  the 
American  flag. 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  A  CANAL 
THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  A  GREAT  WATERWAY 

THE  project  of  making  a  canal  across  the 
Isthmus  was  first  proposed  to  Charles  V 
of  Spain  in  1523  by  Cortes.  Charles  had 
sent  Cortes  to  find  a  natural  waterway  across 
the  Isthmus,  which  the  Indians  continued 
to  tell  the  white  men  was  there.  Cortes, 
of  course,  failed  to  find  a  river  that  would 
allow  him  to  reach  the  Pacific.  He  was 
evidently  an  enterprising  fellow,  for  when  he 
could  not  find  what  he  wanted  he  proposed 
to  his  cousin,  who  accompanied  him,  that  he 
draw  some  plans  for  an  artificial  waterway 
or  canal  which  could  be  made  at  any  one  of 
four  places.  This  cousin,  Saavedra  Ceron, 
was  a  civil  engineer,  so  he  proceeded  to  draw 
four  sets  of  plans  for  a  canal:  one  by  way 
of  Lake  Nicaragua,  one  across  Tehuantepec, 
one  across  Darien,  and  one  across  Panama. 

70 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        71 

Before  these  plans  could  be  seriously  con- 
sidered, however,  King  Charles  died. 


Hernando  Cortes,  who,  it  is  said,  first  proposed  an 

Isthmian  canal.    From  the  portrait  painted  by 

Charles  Wilson  Peale,  now  in  Independence 

Hall,  Philadelphia 

Another  king,  Philip  II,  who  came  after 
Charles,  laid  the  matter  before  his  friars  for 


72    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water'9 

counsel.  They  quoted  their  Bibles,  saying, 
"What  God  hath  joined  together,  let  no  man 
put  asunder."  So  the  Spaniards  went  on 
hunting  for  a  natural  waterway  and  for  three 
hundred  years  the  scheme  for  a  canal  rested. 
In  1821  Panama  became  independent  of 
Spain  and  was  for  many  years  subject  to 
Colombia.  Shortly  after  this,  England  got  a 
foothold  at  Nicaragua  and  became  interested 
in  the  Isthmus.  In  1835  the  United  States 
began  to  realize  that  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
was  of  more  value  to  our  nation  than  it 
could  possibly  be  to  any  other,  and  President 
Jackson  investigated  the  problem  of  digging 
a  canal  across  it.  In  1848  he  made  a  treaty 
with  Colombia  which  gave  the  sole  right  of 
crossing  the  Isthmus  "by  railroad,  road,  or 
canal"  to  the  United  States.  In  return  our 
government  promised  to  protect  the  rights 
and  powers  of  Colombia  against  other  nations, 
and  pledged  herself  to  keep  neutral  (that  is, 
not  to  use  for  warfare)  any  line  of  transit, 
or  travel,  that  she  should  make  across  the 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        73 

Isthmus.  This  made  it  possible  to  build  the 
Panama  railroad. 

As  England  had  her  hands  on  a  portion  of 
the  Isthmus,  it  was  necessary  for  us  to  make 
a  treaty  with  that  nation.  In  this  treaty, 
made  in  1850,  England  and  the  United  States 
both  agreed  that  as  nations  they  would  not 
build  a  canal  across  the  Isthmus  for  fifty 
years,  or  allow  any  other  government  en- 
trance to  the  Central  American  country  for 
that  purpose.  However,  they  jointly  prom- 
ised to  protect  any  private  company  that 
would  undertake  the  work. 

There  were  many  things  that  made  the 
building  of  a  canal  difficult.  In  the  first 
place,  the  Colombian  government  was  sus- 
picious of  foreigners  and  very  hard  to  deal 
with,  and  although  it  was  only  fifty  miles 
across  the  Isthmus,  every  mile  offered  a  tre- 
mendous obstacle. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  Chagres  River, 
which  is  a  large  stream  rising  in  the  San  Bias 
Mountains.  It  runs  for  some  distance  parallel 


74    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

with  the  coast  in  a  zigzag  course  midway 
between  the  two  oceans.  When  within  a 
few  miles  of  Colon  it  originally  turned  at 
right  angles  and  emptied  into  the  Caribbean 
Sea.  For  a  stretch  of  seventeen  miles  from 
the  sea  the  bed  of  the  river  was  only  a  trifle 
above  sea  level;  but  from  Bohio  to  Culebra 
Cut  it  rose  to  forty-eight  feet  above  sea  level. 
The  Chagres  River  crossed  the  proposed 
route  of  the  Canal  twenty-three  times  between 
Obispo  and  Gatun.  It  had  twenty-six  tribu- 
taries, and  in  the  rainy  season  had  been  known 
to  rise  twenty-five  feet  within  twenty-four 
hours.  Could  anything  be  harder  to  manage  ? 
The  Cordillera  Mountains,  or  the  divide 
between  the  oceans,  were  about  five  hundred 
feet  above  sea  level  at  the  highest  point  in 
the  route  of  the  Canal.  The  harbors  on 
either  coast  were  poor.  Because  of  the  shape 
of  Panama  Bay  the  tides  on  the  Pacific  coast 
rise  twenty-one  feet,  while  on  the  Atlantic 
coast  they  rise  two  and  one  half  feet.  In  the 
rainy  season  a  great  amount  of  silt  is  carried 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        75 

out  into  the  harbors  by  the  raging  streams. 
All  these  were  most  serious  problems  for  the 
engineer  to  overcome. 

But  this  was  not  all.  The  constant  rains 
and  the  peculiar  formation  of  the  rocks  under- 
lying the  mountains  caused  many  landslides 
that  filled  up  the  excavations  almost  as  fast 
as  they  could  be  made.  The  labor  problem 
was  unusually  hard,  for,  as  we  have  said, 
the  natives  of  the  tropics  will  not  work 
and  the  laborers  brought  in  from  the  outside 
could  not  endure  the  conditions  of  climate,  but 
sickened  and  died. 

Aside  from  the  many  poisonous  spiders 
and  snakes,  the  excessive  rainfall  and  the 
dense  vegetation  of  the  swamps  make  an 
ideal  breeding  place  for  myriads  of  mosquitoes, 
which  have  been  proved  to  be  disease  carriers. 
It  was  a  long  time  before  people  suspected 
that  the  dread  yellow  fever,  that  was  almost 
certain  to  be  fatal  to  foreigners,  was  carried 
from  a  sick  to  a  well  person  by  the  bite  of  a 
certain  mosquito. 


76    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

By  long  and  careful  experimenting  in  the 
West  Indies,  the  taking  of  grave  risks,  and 
the  sacrifice  of  life,  the  responsibility  was 
fastened  on  this  small  insect.  The  investiga- 
tors first  showed,  by  sleeping  many  nights 
in  the  bed  and  clothing  of  yellow-fever  vic- 
tims who  had  died,  that  the  disease  was 
not  contracted  by  contact.  -Then,  by  careful 
observation,  it  was  proved  beyond  a  doubt 
that  a  certain  kind  of  mosquito,  called 
stegomyia,  that  bit  a  person  suffering  with 
yellow  fever,  could,  after  a  few  days,  infect 
a  well  person  with  its  bite. 

Malaria  also  was  spread  from  one  person  to 
another  by  another  variety  of  mosquito,  called 
anopheles.  People  who  came  in  the  early 
days  contracted  cholera  from  drinking  the 
water  and  eating  the  fruit  that  grew  wild. 

Of  course  the  idea  of  a  sea-level  canal 
pleased  everybody  best.  A  long,  dug-out 
channel  where  boats  might  sail  without  inter- 
ruption, and  which  would  never  grow  too  small 
for  the  largest  ship  that  might  ever  be  built, 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        77 

was  naturally  to  be  preferred.  Many  of  the 
engineers  argued  that  it  would  cost  only  a 
little  more  time  and  trouble  to  build  the 
canal  at  sea  level.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
more  thoughtful  contended  that  it  was  easier 
to  control  the  Chagres  River  by  using  it 
than  by  trying  to  make  new  beds  for  it  and 
all  its  tributaries.  They  advocated  the  build- 
ing of  a  dam  across  the  valley  where  the 
Chagres  flowed  which  would  convert  the  river 
into  a  colossal  lake  lying  eighty-five  feet 
above  sea  level.  By  means  of  this  and 
another  small  lake,  made  in  the  same  manner, 
they  proposed  to  lift  the  ships  over  the  divide 
on  a  great  "bridge  of  water."  The  boats 
were  to  be  carried  up  to  this  higher  level  by 
means  of  immense  water  elevators,  or  locks, 
on  one  side  of  the  divide  and  lowered  by  the 
same  device  on  the  other  side  to  the  level  of 
the  sea  once  more.  This  was  known  as  the 
"lock  type"  of  canal,  or  the  lock  plan. 


DE  LESSEES'  FAILURE 

A  COSTLY  EXPERIMENT 

WHILE  the  Panama  railroad  was  in 
process  of  building,  General  Grant, 
with  eighteen  hundred  soldiers,  crossed  the 
Isthmus  on  his  way  to  the  Pacific  coast,  losing 
eighty  of  his  men  with  cholera  on  the  trip.  He 
was  greatly  impressed  with  the  hardships  of 
the  journey,  and  was  convinced  of  the  benefit 
a  canal  would  be  to  our  country.  One  of  the 
first  things  he  did  when  he  became  President 
of  the  United  States  was  to  send  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  Colombia,  of  which  Panama  was  a 
part,  to  arrange  for  a  right  of  way  across  the 
Isthmus.  His  messenger  met  with  anything 
but  a  cordial  reception  at  the  hands  of  the 
Colombian  government,  so  Grant  turned  his 
attention  to  the  Nicaragua  route.  At  this, 
Colombia  gave  to  a  French  company  the  right 
of  way  the  United  States  had  been  seeking. 

78 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        79 

A  French  company  was  organized  with  an 
immense  capital,  and  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps 


Brown  Bros.,  N.Y.,  photographers 

Count  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps,  the  famous  builder 
of  the  Suez  Canal 

was  chosen  to  build  the  canal.    De  Lesseps 
had  but  recently  completed  the  Suez  Canal, 


80   Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

which  connects  the  Mediterranean  Sea  with 
the  Red  Sea,  so  every  one  had  great  faith  in 
him.  De  Lesseps  was  more  than  seventy 
years  old  when  he  undertook  the  great  task, 
but  he  was  confident  of  his  ability  to  do  the 
work.  The  words,  "The  canal  will  be  built," 
were  ever  on  his  tongue.  Although  many 
of  the  best  engineers  disagreed  with  him,  he 
planned  to  dig  a  canal  about  twenty-nine 
feet  deep,  at  sea  level.  He  promised  that  it 
should  be  completed  in  eight  years,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  let  contracts  for  various  parts  of 
the  job. 

He  pushed  the  work  hard,  but  very  soon 
the  obstacles  began  to  appear.  The  floods 
of  the  Chagres  River  which,  as  we  have  said, 
rises  prodigiously  in  the  rainy  season,  proved 
a  factor  he  had  not  reckoned  with.  He  had 
planned  to  get  the  river  out  of  his  way  by 
building  through  the  mountains  a  tunnel,  ten 
miles  long,  which  would  carry  it  to  the  Pacific 
slope;  but  to  change  the  course  of  this  seeth- 
ing torrent  with  its  numerous  tributaries  was 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        81 

a  mightier  task  than  he  dreamed.    Slides 
again  and  again  filled  up  his  excavations  at 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

A  dump-car,  left  by  the  French,  imbedded  in  the  trunk  of  a  tree 

Culebra  Cut,  and  his  men  died  by  hundreds. 
At  last  he  was  on  the  point  of  giving  up 
the  plan  of  a  sea-level  canal  and  turning  to 
the  lock  type;  but  he  had  spent  so  much 
money  and  had  accomplished  so  little  that 
the  company  began  to  distrust  him,  and  not 
enough  money  could  be  raised  to  proceed  with 
new  plans.  He  had  built  beautiful  hospitals 
on  the  Isthmus  to  care  for  his  men,  but  there 

6 


82    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

had  been  no  attempt  to  prevent  illness.  It 
is  said  that  out  of  every  hundred  men  who 
came,  only  twenty  were  fit  to  work  more  than 
a  few  days.  After  spending  $260,000,000, 
and  excavating  about  seventy  million  cubic 
yards  of  earth,  de  Lesseps  was  forced  to  throw 
up  his  hands  and  go  back  to  France  in  dis- 
grace. He  lost  his  mind  worrying  over  his 
failure,  and  died  in  1894. 

Some  half-hearted  attempts  were  made  to 
continue  the  work,  but  the  French  company 
could  not  revive  the  interest  in  it  sufficiently 
to  raise  funds  to  complete  it.  To  keep  the 
right  of  way,  a  few  men  were  kept  working 
on  the  line  until  it  was  sold  to  the  Americans. 

Much  of  the  machinery  used  by  the  French 
was  of  use  to  the  Americans  in  the  beginning 
of  their  work.  The  hospitals  and  some  of  the 
houses  built  by  de  Lesseps  were  especially 
useful.  The  most  important  work  that  the 
French  had  done  was  between  Gold  Hill 
and  Contractor's  Hill,  where  the  elevation 
of  the  divide  is  the  greatest.  They  had 


The  Land  of  the  Panamanians        83 

lowered  the  divide  from  three  hundred  and 
twelve  feet  to  one  hundred  and  sixty-one  feet, 


Copyright  by  Keystone  View  Co. 

Culebra  Cut,  showing  Gold  Hill  on  the  right  and  Contractor's 
Hill  at  the  left 

removing  about  thirty  million  cubic  yards  of 
earth  in  the  route  that  was  of  actual  value 
to  our  workmen;  but  a  large  part  of  their 
excavations  were  of  no  use  to  us  because  our 
route  was  different  from  theirs. 


84    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

The  United  States  paid  the  French  com- 
pany forty  million  dollars  for  their  rights, 
including  the  railroad.  This  also  included 
their  records  and  surveys,  but  since  the 
French  were  unsuccessful,  much  of  the  work 
was  gone  over.  After  all,  the  greatest  good 
we  obtained  from  the  French  was  the  knowl- 
edge that  made  it  possible  for  us  to  avoid  their 
mistakes  and  profit  by  their  experience. 


II 


COMING  OF 
THE  AMERICANS 


"We  own  half  of  an  unusually  big  waterfall 
at  Niagara.  We  have  some  mountains  out  West 
which  rival  the  Alps,  and  a  bit  of  fine  grain  land 
in  between.  But  we  have  never  had  an  accom- 
plishment like  this  Canal  to  toast  of  before. 
Something  we  as  a  nation  have  done  ourselves 
— and  not  entirely  for  ourselves.1' 


CLEANING  UP  THE  CANAL  ZONE 

WAR  ON  DISEASE,  THE  FIRST  GREAT  TASK 

DURING  the  Spanish-American  War  the 
battleship  "Oregon,"  then  stationed  on 
our  Pacific  coast,  was  needed  on  the  Atlantic. 
It  took  so  long  for  it  to  make  the  ten  thousand 
mile  journey  from  San  Francisco  around  Cape 
Horn  that  every  citizen  of  the  United  States 
awoke  to  the  immediate  need  of  a  canal  at 
the  Isthmus  for  the  prompt  and  adequate 
protection  of  our  coasts  and  the  convenience 
of  our  navy. 

After  the  war  was  over,  President  McKinley 
appointed  an  Isthmian  Canal  Commission 
of  seven  men,  known  as  the  I.  C.  C.,  to  push 
the  matter.  Negotiations  were  again  begun 
with  Colombia,  but  when  President  Roose- 
velt took  the  chair  there  seemed  to  be  little 
hope  of  their  reaching  an  agreement.  We 
were  finally  on  the  point  of  settling  on  the 

87 


88    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

Nicaragua   route   when   Panama,    which   is 
credited  with  having  had  fifty-three  revolu- 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 


Independence  Day  in  Panama  City 

tions  in  fifty-seven  years,  rose  once  more 
against  the  Colombian  government  and  de- 
clared its  independence.  The  United  States 
seized  the  occasion  to  escape  further  dealing 
with  the  leaders  of  the  Colombian  government 
by  promptly  recognizing  the  independence  of 
Panama  and  making  a  treaty  with  her. 

For  a  cash  payment  of  ten  million  dollars 
and  the  promise  of  $250,000  yearly  after  1913, 
the  United  States  obtained  the  control  of  the 


90    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

Canal  Zone  that  we  have  before  described. 
The  French  rights  and  the  railroad  were 
bought  for  forty  million  dollars  and  a  new 
treaty  was  made  with  Great  Britain.  The 
new  treaty  of  1901  did  away  with  the  pledges 
of  the  treaty  of  1850  and  allowed  the  United 
States  government  to  "construct,  operate, 
and  control  a  canal,"  with  a"  free  hand  over 
the  canal  in  time  of  war  and  the  right  of 
fortifying  it  as  they  see  fit. 

In  1904,  the  I.  C.  C.,  or  the  Commission 
appointed  to  dig  the  Canal,  took  charge  of 
the  Canal  Zone.  John  F.  Wallace  was  ap- 
pointed chief  engineer,  George  W.  Davis, 
governor  of  the  Canal  Zone,  and  Colonel 
W.  C.  Gorgas  was  made  head  of  the  Health 
Department,  which  was  to  clean  up  the  Canal 
Zone  and  make  it  a  fit  place  to  live  in  while 
the  work  of  digging  the  Canal  was  carried  on. 
At  this  time  it  was  not  decided  whether  the 
Canal  should  be  built  at  sea  level  or  after 
the  lock  plan. 

Colonel  Gorgas  started  in  to  do  two  things: 


Coming  of  the  Americans  91 

to  clean  up  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon, 
and  to  kill  all  the  mosquitoes.     He  had  had 


Copyright  by  Clinedinst,  Washington,  D.C. 

Colonel  William  C.  Gorgas,  Chief  Sanitary  Officer 
of  the  Canal  Zone 

successful  experience  in  this  work  in  the 
West  Indies  and  was  a  man  admirably  fitted 


92    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

for  the  work.  First  of  all,  he  understood  the 
prejudices  of  the  natives  and  knew  how  to 
handle  them  tactfully.  It  was  said  of  him 
that  "Gorgas  can  feed  you  liquid  quinine 
and  jolly  you  into  thinking  you  like  it."  In 
the  early  days  in  Cuba  there  were  many  who 
made  light  of  the  war  against  the  mosquitoes. 
Once  one  of  Gorgas'  superiors  said  to  him: 

"Is  it  worth  while  to  spend  all  this  money 
to  save  the  lives  of  a  few  niggers? " 

"That's  not  the  point,  General,"  replied 
Gorgas.  "We  are  doing  it  to  save  your  life, 
and  that  is  worth  while." 

The  Panamanians  were  slipshod  and  care- 
less. They  were  immune  to  malaria  and 
yellow  fever,  and  those  of  the  better  class  were 
accustomed  to  getting  favors  from  their  offi- 
cers by  means  of  bribes.  But  Gorgas  turned 
every  family  out  of  its  home  for  twenty-four 
hours  while  he  fumigated  the  house.  All  the 
houses  in  the  city  of  Panama  were  fumigated 
within  two  weeks,  and  he  did  it  without  oppo- 
sition, by  humoring  and  managing  the  people. 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


93 


He  built  sewers  and  waterworks,  and  forced 
the  residents  of  the  city  to  connect  the 
pipes  that  he  laid  under- 
ground. He  also  insisted 
on  their  disposing  of  all 
waste  and  garbage  in  a 
sanitary  manner,  instead 
of  dumping  it  into  the 
streets,  as  they  had  pre- 
viously done.  The  large  CopyrightbyKeystoneviewco. 
stone  basins  standing  in  ^  unitary  drip  band 

the  courtyards,  which  had  for  many  years 
held  their  supply  of  water,  were  a  breeding 
place  for  mosquitoes.  These  were  banished 
and  a  reservoir  was  made  in  the  mountains 
twelve  miles  from  the  city  of  Panama,  and 
from  this  the  water  was  piped  to  all  the  houses. 
The  streets  were  paved  and  a  great  stride 
toward  sanitary  living  had  been  made.  The 
same  measures  were  used  in  Colon. 

Then  began  the  war  upon  the  mosquitoes. 
Since  the  life  of  a  mosquito  is  short,  it  was 
believed  the  quickest  way  of  getting  rid  of 


94    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

them  was  to  prevent  as  many  as  possible 
from  hatching.  The  mosquito  lays  her  eggs 
on  the  top  of  stagnant  pools  or  standing 
water.  When  the  young  mosquitoes  or  wig- 
glers  hatch  they  live  in  the  water,  but  come  to 
the  surface  very  often  for  air.  Kerosene  was 
found  to  be  fatal  to  the  wigglers,  so  all  the 
pools  of  standing  water,  and  even  some  of  the 
smaller  running  streams,  were  kept  covered 
with  a  scum  of  crude  oil,  or  "larvacide."  After 
the  rains  this  was  constantly  renewed  by 
negroes  with  sprinkling  cans.  If  the  young 
mosquito  gets  a  lungful  of  larvacide  he  never 
comes  to  the  top  again. 

Attempts  were  then  made  to  prevent  the 
mosquito  from  depositing  eggs,  by  destroying 
all  the  breeding  places.  Even  the  footprint  of 
a  cow  in  the  soggy  ground,  after  a  few  inches 
of  water  oozes  into  it,  becomes  a  fine  hatch- 
ing place  for  the  eggs  of  the  malarial  mos- 
quito, and  any  small  vessel  standing  outside 
through  the  rainy  season  may  become  a  mos- 
quito hatcher.  That  the  sun  might  readily 


Coming  of  the  Americans  95 

dry  up  the  puddles,  hundreds  of  men  were 
put  to  work  with  scythes  or  machetes  to  cut 


Applying  "larvacide"  by  the  use  of  the  knapsack  sprayer 

the  grass  and  tropical  growth.  Swampy 
ground  near  the  living  quarters  was  drained 
or  filled  in,  and  every  building  was  screened. 
Mosquitoes  of  all  kinds  and  sizes  were 
caught  and  put  into  cages  covered  with  every 
sort  of  netting  until  it  was  found  which  was 
the  best  mesh  for  excluding  them.  When 


96    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water9' 

the  new  houses  were  built  the  architects 
planned  them  so  that  as  little  wire  as  possible 
was  needed,  for  copper  wire  is  the  only  sort 
that  will  stand  the  wet  climate  and  a  few  feet 
more  or  less  of  this  on  the  many  houses  made 
quite  a  difference  in  expense.  It  is  estimated 
that  it  cost  almost  one  million  dollars  to 
screen  the  government  houses  and  other 
buildings  in  the  Canal  Zone. 

The  yellow-fever  mosquito  breeds  only 
near  houses,  so  this  variety  was  easier  to  con- 
trol. The  health  department  saw  to  it  that 
everything  that  would  hold  a  few  drops  of 
water  was  gathered  up,  and  it  is  laughingly 
said  that  if  a  mosquito  was  seen  within  the 
walls  of  a  house  the  sanitary  officer  was  sent 
for  just  as  we  would  send  for  the  police  if 
we  found  a  burglar. 

While  killing  the  mosquitoes  did  away  with 
yellow  fever,  malaria  still  continued  to  be 
troublesome.  Quinine  was  bought  by  the 
ton  and  shipped  to  the  Canal  Zone.  Every 
employee  was  urged  to  take  three  grains  a 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


97 


day,  and  visitors  had  it  served  to  them  at 
meals  at  the  hotels  and  on  the  boats  entering 
the  harbor.  Vaccination  of 
each  person  who  came  to  the 
Canal  Zone  to  live  was  in- 
sisted upon  unless  he  could 
show  a  scar. 
In  every  town  or  settle- 


ment there  were  government  Mosquito  whose  sting 
dispensaries,  each  with  a  phy-  spreads  yellow  fever 
sician  in  charge  provided  by  the  government, 
and  a  sanitary  officer  to  inspect  all  houses 
and  conditions  of  living.  The  French  hospi- 
tals at  Ancon  Hill  and  Colon  were  renovated 
and  furnished  with  all  modern  apparatus, 
and  hospital  cars  were  attached  to  passenger 
trains  to  take  the  sick  there  to  be  treated. 
A  sick  person  was  not  allowed  to  remain  at 
home  except  with  the  permission  of  the  vil- 
lage physician.  In  this  way  epidemics  were 
soon  conquered.  The  physicians  and  nurses 
at  the  hospital  were  of  the  very  best,  so  that 
every  one  had  perfect  care.  At  Taboga 

7 


98    Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

Island,  where  there  is  a  sanitarium,  the  con- 
valescents found  delightful  quarters. 


A  general  view  of  Ancon  hospitals  as  seen  from  Tivoli  Hotel, 
Ancon 

In  the  first  year  an  epidemic  of  yellow  fever 
took  thirty-seven  Americans,  but  there  have 
been  few  cases  since  then.  It  cost  $150,000,- 
000  to  clean  up  the  Zone,  but  during  the  last 
few  years  there  has  been  a  very  small  death 
rate.  None  but  well  persons  were  allowed 
to  enter  the  Zone  for  employment  or  to  remain, 
and  those  failing  seriously  in  health  were 


Coming  of  the  Americans  99 

sent  back  home,  which  perhaps  explains,  to 
some  extent,  the  small  number  of  deaths 
reported. 

On  the  whole,  health  has  been  reasonably 
assured  for  the  white  man  in  a  tropical  climate 
if  he  is  willing  to  live  decently  and  health- 
fully, keeps  clean,  and  leaves  liquor  alone. 
The  people  in  the  Zone  not  only  learned  many 
lessons  of  proper  living  but  have  taught 
them  to  the  whole  world.  If  under  all  the 
hard  conditions  of  a  new  country  it  is  possible 
to  be  free  from  flies  and  mosquitoes,  we  should 
certainly  not  allow  ourselves  to  tolerate  them 
in  civilization. 


THE  GATUN  DAM  AND  THE  LOCKS 

THE  "STEPS"  TO  THE  " BRIDGE  OF  WATER" 

AFTER  two  and  one  half  years  of  prepar- 
ation, the  work  on  the  Canal  began  in 
earnest.  President  Roosevelt  and  Secretary 
of  State  Taft  both  lent  their  influence  to  the 
lock  type  of  canal,  which  decided  Congress 
in  its  favor,  and  in  1906  the  I.  C.  C.  began  the 
process  of  damming  the  Chagres  River.  At 
Gatun,  the  valley  of  this  river  was  about  one 
and  one  half  miles  wide.  By  closing  this 
space  with  a  monster  dam  the  river  was 
forced  to  spread  out  into  a  mammoth  lake 
one  hundred  and  sixty-four  square  miles  in 
extent,  surrounded  by  a  circle  of  hills.  The 
lake  reaches  from  Gatun  to  Obispo,  where 
the  Canal  crosses  the  mountains,  and  pro- 
vides twenty-three  miles,  or  nearly  one  half, 
of  the  waterway  of  the  Canal. 
To  build  the  dam,  rock  and  earth  excavated 
100 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


101 


at  Culebra  Cut  were  loaded  upon  cars,  carried 
out  on  large  trestles,  and  dumped  in  two  long 


Gatun  upper  locks,  showing  the  various  gates  in  course  of 
construction 

heaps,  forming  a  double  wall,  seventy-five 
hundred  feet  long,  across  the  valley.  The 
space  between  these  parallel  walls  of  rock 
was  then  flooded  with  muddy  water,  and, 
when  the  mud  had  settled,  the  water  was 
drained  off,  leaving  a  core  of  solid  earth 
between  the  walls  of  rock.  Thus  was  formed 
an  artificial  hill  half  a  mile  thick  at  the  base. 


102  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

This   substantial,    broad-based    dam,    when 
overgrown  with  green,  looked  so  much  like 


The  "spillway ,"  Gatun  Dam,  looking  south  from  the  bridge 

the  natural  hill  formations  surrounding  the 
rest  of  the  valley  that  it  was  hard  to  tell 
where  the  dam  began  and  where  it  left  off. 
The  water  of  the  Chagres  River  can,  at  least 
once  and  a  half  times  every  year,  supply  this 
immense  lake  with  water  deep  enough  to  be 
easily  navigable  so  there  is  no  danger  of  a 
dearth  of  water  in  this  part  of  the  Canal.  To 
keep  the  surplus  water  from  running  over  and 
washing  away  the  top  of  the  dam,  the  "  spill- 
way, "  a  series  of  crescent-shaped  openings, 


Coming  of  the  Americans  103 

lined  with  concrete  and  furnished  with  sluice 
gates,    was    built    through    the    middle   of 


Copyright  by  the  Keystone  View  Co. 

The  huge  conductors  which  carry  waste  water  to  be  transformed 
into  power 

it.  It  is  arranged  to  hold  back  the  water 
of  the  Gatun  Dam  in  the  dry  season,  and  in 
the  wet  season  to  allow  all  of  the  extra  sup- 
ply to  run  off  to  the  sea.  However,  our 


104  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

government  is  thrifty  enough  to  see  that  on 
its  way  this  waste  water  is  used  to  generate 


A  view  of  the  concrete  work  in  progress  for  the  walls  of  the  upper 
locks  at  Gatun 

electricity  for  lighting  the  Canal  and  to  furnish 
power  to  run  the  electric  locomotives  that 
tow  the  ships  through  the  locks. 

The  locks  at  Gatun  are  gigantic  concrete 
tanks,  six  in  number,  arranged  in  pairs. 
Each  lock  is  big  enough  for  a  ship  one  thou- 
sand feet  long,  one  hundred  and  ten  feet 
wide,  and  with  a  draft  of  forty-five  feet,  to 


Coming  of  the  Americans  105 

float  in  easily.  If  you  can  think  of  twenty 
fifty-foot  lots  in  a  row,  you  will  see  that  it 
makes  a  very  long  block.  If  you  can  imagine 
nine-story  buildings  on  both  sides  of  a  street 
one  hundred  and  ten  feet  wide,  in  this  long 
block,  you  can  get  some  idea  of  the  size  of 
one  of  these  immense  locks. 

The  locks  are  arranged  in  pairs,  as  we  have 
said,  so  that  while  one  ship  is  going  upstairs 
by  means  of  the  set  of  three  huge  steps, 
another  ship  may  be  coming  downstairs  on 
the  other  side.  The  locks  are  separated  by 
thick  walls  of  concrete  and  closed  by  steel 
gates. 

The  lock,  or  elevator,  system  cost  fifty- 
eight  million  dollars.  Mammoth  concrete 
plants  for  mixing  the  concrete  were  erected  at 
Gatun  and  Miraflores,  and  just  as  concrete 
walls  are  made  on  a  smaller  scale,  so  these 
gigantic  pieces  of  masonry  were  built  with 
carload  after  carload  of  the  mixed  cement 
which  was  dumped  into  the  forms  and 
tamped  into  place  by  laborers.  The  crushed 


106  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

rock  for  making  the  concrete  was  brought 
from  Porto  Bello,  twenty  miles  east  of  Colon, 


Copyright  by  the  Keystone  View  Cc 


A  concrete-mixing  plant  at  Gatun  Locks 

and  the  sand  was  brought  from  Nombre  de 
Dios,  forty  miles  east  of  that  city. 

In  each  of  the  outside  walls  of  the  locks  and 
in  the  center  wall  are  tunnels  eighteen  feet 
in  diameter  which  fill  the  locks  with  water 
when  a  ship  is  to  be  elevated  to  the  lock  above. 
Valves,  operated  by  electricity,  regulate  the 
flow  of  the  water.  The  gates  for  the  locks 


Coming  of  the  Americans  107 

cost   more   than   five    million    dollars,   and 
the   forty-six  that  fit  out  the  twelve  locks 


International  News  Service 

A  steamer  in  the  first  lock,  in  which  the  water  has  risen 

were  made  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania. 
The  ship  climbs  up  to  the  great  lake  eighty- 
five  feet  above  sea  level  in  this  way:  The 
gates  of  the  first,  or  lower,  lock  swing  open 
and  four  electric  mules,  or  locomotives,  run 
out  on  the  guide  wall,  fasten  to  the  ship, 
and  tow  it  into  the  locks,  just  as  the  real 
mules  used  to  tow  ships  along  a  canal  years 


108  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

ago.  No  ship  is  allowed  to  enter  the  lock 
under  her  own  steam,  but  is  pulled  through 
by  the  electric  mules.  When  the  ship  is 
safely  within  the  first  lock,  the  gates  are  closed 
and  the  water  comes  in  through  the  tunnels 
at  the  sides  of  the  locks,  filling  the  huge  tank, 
and  as  it  does  so  the  ship  is  gradually  lifted 
by  the  rising  water  to  the  level  of  the  gates 
of  the  next  lock,  which  is  twenty-seven  and 
one  half  feet  above.  This  is  nicely  illustrated 
by  placing  a  toy  ship  in  a  bathtub  and  seeing 
it  rise  to  the  top  as  the  water  is  turned  on  to 
fill  the  tub. 

Then  the  second  pair  of  gates  swings  open 
and  the  electric  mules  draw  the  ship  through 
into  the  second  lock.  In  the  same  manner 
the  boat  is  raised  twenty-seven  and  one  half 
feet  higher  in  this  second  lock.  In  the  third 
lock  it  is  elevated  thirty  feet  by  the  same 
process,  and  when  released  into  Gatun  Lake 
it  sails  out  under  its  own  steam  eighty-five 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  It  takes  less 
than  an  hour  and  a  half  for  a  boat  to  climb 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


109 


these  three  steps.    Every  precaution,  such 
as  guard  chains  and  inner  gates,  is  taken  to 


International  News  Service 


The  first  steamer  starting  on  her  trip  through  the  Canal.    At 
the  left  may  be  seen  one  of  the  electric  towing  locomotives 

prevent  the  ship  from  bumping  into  the  walls 
of  the  locks  or  ramming  the  gates. 

To  prevent  misunderstanding  of  signals, 
which  is  the  usual  cause  of  accidents,  one  man 
will  have  charge  of  the  guiding  of  the  ship 
through  the  locks.  Stationed  on  the  middle 
wall,  he  will  have  before  him  a  control-board 
with  a  model  of  the  locks  which  shows  the 


110  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

exact  position  of  the  ship  in  the  locks  and 
of  every  fender  and  every  guard  chain.    He 


GATUN  LAKE 


aJij  Miles   LEVEL 
DIAGRAM    OF   PANAMA    LOCK  TYPE   OF   CANAL 

stands  before  this  board  and  throws  all  the 
switches  which  open  and  close  the  gates  and 
control  the  supply  of  water.  Every  motion 
of  the  ship  is  under  his  control,  except  the 
power  of  the  electric  mules. 

Since  only  a  few  ships  are  so  large  as  to 
require  all  the  space  furnished  by  the  locks, 
arrangements  are  made  so  that  more  than  one 
boat  may  be  admitted  into  the  lock  at  the 
same  time,  by  intermediate  gates  which  allow 
two  small  vessels  to  be  elevated  at  once,  thus 
saving  power,  water,  and  time.  After  sail- 
ing across  Gatun  Lake  the  ship  has  covered 
twenty-three  miles  of  the  journey,  and  then 
passes  through  Culebra  Cut. 


CULEBRA  CUT  AND  THE  SLIDES 

A  KNOTTY  PROBLEM 

NINE  miles  of  the  Canal,  from  Bas  Obispo 
to  Pedro  Miguel,  had  to  be  excavated 
from  solid  rock.  The  deepest  cut,  at  Gold  Hill, 
necessitated  going  down  two  hundred  and 
seventy-two  feet.  This  channel  is  called 
Culebra  Cut,  and  is  at  no  point  less  than  three 
hundred  feet  wide  at  the  bottom;  in  some 
places  it  is  one  thousand  feet  wide.  The 
French  as  we  have  said,  had  removed  nineteen 
million  cubic  yards  of  dirt  here,  and  their 
machinery  was  used  the  first  year  by  the 
workmen  from  the  United  States.  When 
serious  work  was  begun  by  our  country  tre- 
mendous steam  shovels  were  used,  in  this 
fashion:  Compressed  air  drills  dug  deep 
holes.  These  were  charged  with  dynamite, 
which  was  exploded  by  electricity  while  the 
men  were  gone  to  lunch  or  after  working 

in 


112  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water'9 

hours.    Small  charges  of  powder  were  first 
set  off  in  the  drill  holes  to  make  them  large 


One  of  the  big  steam  shovels  loading  rock  at  Culebra  Cut 

enough  for  the  larger  charges.  Many  boat- 
loads of  dynamite,  almost  thirty  thousand 
tons,  have  been  used  in  the  Cut;  at  one  time 
as  much  as  twenty-six  tons  were  used  to  tear 
down  an  entire  hillside. 

The  rock  thus  dislodged  was  gathered  up 
in  the  large  steel-lined  dippers  of  the  steam 
shovels,  which  are  great  machines  weighing 


Coming  of  the  Americans  113 

one  hundred  and  five  tons.  Some  of  the 
dippers  of  these  great  steam  engines  gobbled 
up  as  much  as  eight  tons  at  one  mouthful. 
They  were  then  swung  into  position  over  the 
dirt  cars  and  the  load  was  dumped,  ready  for 
hauling  away.  Sometimes  rocks  lifted  in 
this  manner  fell  so  heavily  that  the  cars  were 
broken  when  the  load  was  dumped  upon 
them.  The  contests  between  these  steam 
shovels  working  in  the  Cut  to  see  which  would 
have  the  greatest  number  of  cubic  yards  to 
its  credit  each  day  was  like  a  great  game. 

To  keep  an  empty  dirt  car  always  ready 
to  receive  the  dipper  loads  in  a  canon  only 
three  hundred  feet  wide  meant  an  almost 
constant  shifting  of  tracks.  One  clever  man 
who  was  employed  in  the  Zone  invented  a 
locomotive  machine  called  a  track-shifter. 
It  has  a  crane  that  takes  the  rails  and  ties  up 
bodily  and  places  them  to  one  side,  three  feet 
or  more,  as  fast  as  a  bed  is  made  to  receive 
them.  It  is  operated  by  nine  men  and  can 
do  the  work  of  five  hundred  men  in  a  day. 


114  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

Hundreds  of  men  worked  to  change  the 
tracks  as  fast  as  the  steam  shovels  cut  away 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

A  labor  train  arriving  at  Culebra  station  at  the  close  of  a  day's 
work 

the  earth  and  rock.  Even  then  it  was 
impossible  to  keep  the  steam  shovels  busy 
more  than  six  hours  a  day.  There  were 
seventy-five  miles  of  track  in  the  Cut,  and 
some  of  it  had  to  be  shifted  constantly.  At 
the  time  the  greatest  amount  of  work  was 
being  done  in  the  Cut,  six  thousand  men 
were  employed  in  the  daytime,  and  about 
four  hundred  were  kept  busy  at  night  to  keep 
the  steam  shovels  in  repair,  to  refill  their 


Coming  of  the  Americans  115 

coal  bins,  blast  more  material  for  the  shovels, 
and  anything  else  that  might  be  done  to  fur- 
ther the  work  in  the  Cut  in  the  daytime.  The 
men  were  carried  to  the  Cut  from  the  various 
towns  along  the  line  by  the  labor  trains. 

From  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  trains,  each  made  up  of 
twenty-one  dirt  cars  loaded  with  rock  and 
earth,  left  the  Cut  each  day.  Some  of  this 
was  used  to  build  the  walls  of  the  Gatun 
Dam;  much  was  used  to  fill  in  four  hundred 
acres  on  the  Pacific  coast  and  to  construct 
a  breakwater  at  Balboa,  while  millions  of 
yards  were  required  for  the  fills  in  relocating 
the  Panama  railroad,  and  some  of  the  loads 
were  merely  sent  to  the  dumps. 

In  building  the  walls  at  the  dam  a  wonder- 
ful system  of  procedure  was  carried  out.  The 
dirt  trains  ran  out  on  tracks  that  were  on  the 
edge  of  the  walls,  and  an  unloading  plow 
which  swept  the  material  down  the  bank 
was  scraped  over  the  flat  cars  by  a  steel  rope. 
Spreaders  were  pushed  over  the  new  surface 


116  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

thus  built  up  and  the  track-shifter  moved  the 
track  over  to  the  new  roadbed. 

Rains  interfered  with  the  excavation  work 
in  the  Cut.  Work  ceased  during  the  worst 
downpours,  but  the  Cut  was  dug  at  a  slant 
so  that  the  water  ran  off  of  its  own  accord. 
Rivers  that  crossed  the  line  of  the  Canal 
were  diverted  by  digging  new  channels  for 
them. 

Slides  increased  the  time  of  the  work  in  the 
Cut  an  entire  year,  for  they  carried  as  much 
dirt  into  the  Cut  as  was  taken  out  in  the  best 
year's  record.  Imagine  the  chagrin  of  the 
workers  when  they  came  one  morning  and 
found  the  Cut  almost  filled  with  earth  by  a 
slide  that  had  occurred  in  the  night! 

The  slides  may  be  divided  into  two  classes: 
gravity  slides  and  deformation  slides.  The 
first  are  likely  to  occur  in  the  wet  season. 
They  are  layers  of  earth  of  porous  material 
through  which  the  water  soaks,  making  a 
slippery  layer  between  them  and  a  harder 
layer  of  rock  beneath  all.  The  soapy,  slippery 


Coming  of  the  Americans  117 

layer  between  the  top  layer  and  the  hard 
layer  beneath  acts  like  a  layer  of  ice  on  a 


Copyright  by  the  Keystone  View  Co. 

Crevasses  which  precede  the  landslides 

sloping  surface,  sending  the  top  into  the 
excavation  with  a  movement  like  a  glacier. 
Such  was  the  Cucaracha  slide  that  made  the 
most  trouble.  It  bothered  the  French,  and 


118  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water 


then  was  quiet  for  a  number  of  years.    In 
1907  it  started  in  the  night  and  without 


Copyright  by  the  Keystone  View  Co. 

A  view  of  Culebra  Cut,  showing  the  Cucaracha  slide 

warning  shot  almost  across  the  Canal  opening, 
and  for  ten  days  kept  up  a  glacier-like  move- 
ment of  about  fourteen  feet  every  twenty 
four  hours.  It  filled  the  opening  and  piled 
up  a  mass  thirty  feet  high  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  Cut.  It  threw  nearly  a  million  cubic 


Coming  of  the  Americans  119 

yards  of  material  into  the  Canal,  and  the 
operation  of  dirt  trains  was  delayed  a  month. 
In  1913  it  carried  two  million  five  hundred 
thousand  yards  more  into  the  Cut. 

Deformation  slides  are  due  to  unstable  rock 
formations  of  very  great  depth.  They  are 
affected  by  the  steepness  and  height  of  the 
slopes,  and  by  the  blasting.  The  underlying 
layer  of  rock  is  unable  to  support  the  weight 
above  it,  and  it  squeezes  out  sidewise  into 
the  bottom  of  the  Cut  like  a  mammoth  tube 
of  paste.  Some  of  these  slidas  filled  up  the 
bottom  from '  fifteen  to  thirty  feet.  They 
usually  occurred  in  the  dry  season  and  were 
absolutely  unforeseen.  One  of  them  extended 
over  an  area  of  seventy-five  acres,  with  ten 
million  cubic  yards  of  material  to  be  removed, 
and  another  covered  fifty  acres,  necessitating 
seven  million  cubic  yards  of  extra  digging. 
Altogether,  the  slides  easily  increased  the 
labor  of  digging  the  Canal  one  fourth.  They 
have,  however,  proved  the  foresight  of  the 
men  who  contended  that  we  never  could  dig 


120  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

a  sea-level  canal.    When  the  blasting  is  done 
and  the  water  presses  continually  on  the 


The  "Ancon"  passing  through  Culebra  Cut  near  Empire  at 
the  official  opening,  of  the  Canal 

banks  the  engineers  believe  that  the  slides 
will  give  no  further  trouble. 

The  Culebra  Cut  is  nine  miles  long,  with  a 
curve  for  every  mile.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  only 
real  piece  of  canal  on  the  route,  as  the  rest 
is  river,  lake,  or  bay  adapted  to  the  purpose. 
At  the  southern  end  of  the  Cut  are  the  Pedro 
Miguel  Locks,  a  single  pair,  which  lower  the 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


121 


ships  thirty  feet  to  Miraflores  Lake,  formed 
by  the  Cocoli  and  other  rivers,  by  a  dam,  and 
by  the  locks  at  Pedro 
Miguel.  Miraflores  Lake 
supplies  a  mile  and  one 
half  of  the  Canal  and 
conveys  the  ships  to  the 
Miraflores  Locks,  which 
are  two  pairs  similar  to 
the  first  two  of  the  Gatun 
Locks.  These  lower  the 
boats  again  to  sea  level. 
Thus  you  will  see  that 
the  Panama  Canal  is  a 
"bridge  of  water "  with  three  pairs  of  stair- 
ways, or  steps,  at  either  end  of  a  chain  of 
lakes  and  rivers.  It  takes,  altogether,  about 
three  hours  for  a  ship  to  climb  up  and  down 
the  locks  and  about  ten  hours  to  traverse  the 
entire  length  of  the  Canal.  Lighthouses, 
which  are  stationed  at  points  of  vantage  from 
one  end  of  the  Canal  to  the  other,  furnish 
either  electricity  or  gas,  so  that  perfect  light 


Copyright    by  the 
Keystone  View  Co. 

A  range  light 
on  locks  at  Gatun 


Coming  of  the  Americans  123 

is  always  provided  for  the  route,  night  or  day. 

As  we  have  said,  the  bays  at  both  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  entrances  to  the  Canal 
were  shallow  and  filled  with  silt  by  the  rivers. 
Of  course,  neither  was  deep  enough  for  the 
use  of  ocean  steamers.  Three  methods  of 
excavation  have  been  used  in  digging  the 
seven  miles  of  sea-level  channel  on  the  Atlan- 
tic side  and  the  eight  miles  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  On  the  Atlantic  side,  steam  shovels 
dug  down  to  forty  feet  belo,w  sea  level,  while 
great  dikes-  held  back  the  water.  The  re- 
mainder of  the  work  has  been  done  by  dredges, 
or  "sand  suckers/'  which  are  large-bodied 
boats  that  suck  up  the  sandy  water  into  their 
hulks,  allow  the  water  to  drain  off,  and  remove 
the  sand  to  other  points. 

A  deeper  channel  was  provided  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  because  of  the  high  tides. 
Storms  are  not  dangerous  here,  but  the  cur- 
rents deposited  so  much  silt  in  the  channel 
that  a  breakwater  was  necessary.  The  Paci- 
fic breakwater  runs  from  the  mainland  to  the 


124  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

islands  three  miles  out  in  the  bay.    Fortifi- 
cations are  built  here.    Balboa,  located  on 


Brown  Bros.,  photographers 

The  Pacific  coast  breakwater — three  miles  of  made  land  trans- 
ported from  Culebra  Cut 

built-up  ground,  is  the  real  Pacific  terminal 
of  the  Canal.  Besides  dredging  the  channel, 
the  low  ground,  to  the  extent  of  about  four 
hundred  acres,  near  this  point  has  been  built 
up,  or  filled  in,  with  rock  and  earth  from  the 
excavations  and  the  dredging  in  the  channel. 
A  general  equipment,  costing  twenty  million 
dollars,  for  the  future  use  of  boats  passing 


Coming  of  the  Americans  125 

through  the  Canal,  is  established  at  Balboa. 
There  are  machine  shops,  dry  docks,  wharves 
and  warehouses,  and  further  supplies  of  all 
sorts. 

The  breakwater  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
surrounds  Limon  Bay,  and  the  forts  are  built 
at  Toro  Point.  Steam  dredges  will  be  kept 
at  work  in  both  harbors  to  keep  the  channels 
clear. 

NOTE.— On  April  28,  1915,  President  Wilson  signed  a  bill 
changing  the  name  of  Culebra  Cut  to  Gaillard  Cut  in  honor  of 
the  late  Colonel  D.  D.  Gaillard,  engineer  in  charge  of  the  Cut, 
who  gave  his  life  to  the  work. 


HOW  THE  GOVERNMENT  CARED  FOR 
HER  EMPLOYEES 

THE  " LABOR  QUESTION"  ANSWERED 

THE  money  of  the  Panamanians  is  all  in 
coin,  or  hard  money,  for  no  paper  is 
used.  By  an  arrangement  with  our  govern- 
ment their  standard  coin,  the  peso,  is  recog- 
nized as  half  a  dollar  of  our  money.  To 
distinguish  between  the  skilled  workers  and 
the  common  laborers  in  the  Zone  the  former 
were  called  "gold  employees"  and  the  latter 
"silver  employees."  All  the  Americans  and 
other  skilled  workers  were  paid  in  American 
money,  which  is  known  as  "gold,"  and  the 
laborers  from  other  nations  were  paid  in  Pana- 
manian money,  which  is  known  as  "silver." 
More  than  forty  nationalities  were  repre- 
sented by  the  forty-five  thousand  persons 
living  in  the  Canal  Zone  as  employees.  The 
Americans  numbered  about  one  sixth  of  the 

126 


Coming  of  the  Americans  127 

population,  they  being  the  doctors,  nurses, 
teachers,  electricians,  mechanics,  masons,  en- 


Both  faces  of  the  "peso,"  the  standard  coin  of  Panama 

gineers,  and  the  heads  of  all  supervisory  work. 

The  colored  laborer  was  most  common,  a 
great  number  coming  from  Jamaica  and  the 
other  West  Indies.  The  best  service  was 
rendered  by  the  European  laborers  who 
came  chiefly  from  Spain  and  Italy.  It  is  said 
one  Spaniard  could  do  the  work  of  two 
Jamaicans.  Every  nation  in  the  world  was 
represented  in  some  capacity.  It  was  com- 
monly said:  "In  the  Canal  Zone  you  can 
stand  on  a  corner  and  see  the  world  go  by/' 

Because  of  the  great  variety  of  names  and 
nations  and  the  fact  that  a  large  number 


128  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

could  neither  read  nor  write  their  names, 
every  employee  was  provided  with  a  brass 
check,  for  identification,  which  he  was  re- 
quired to  present  before  he  could  draw  his 
pay.  The  pay  car  went  across  the  Isthmus 
once  a  month,  taking  three  days  for  the  trip, 
and  the  bank  at  Empire  sometimes  handled 
three  million  dollars  a  month.  Out  of  the 
$375,000,000  paid  for  the  Canal,  $150,000,000 
was  paid  for  labor. 

After  the  first  two  years  of  the  occupation 
of  the  Zone  the  problem  of  providing  food 
and  merchandise  for  the  employees  was 
worked  out  in  this  manner:  Everything  was 
furnished  by  the  government  through  a  com- 
missary department,  whose  headquarters  were 
at  Cristobal.  The  government  had  a  laun- 
dry, a  bakery  which  put  out  many  thousands 
of  loaves  of  bread  a  day,  an  ice-cream  plant, 
an  ice  factory,  cold-storage  accommodations, 
and  all  sorts  of  merchandise.  No  cash  sales 
were  made  at  the  commissary,  but  books  of 
coupons  containing  from  five  to  ten  dollars* 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


129 


worth  of  slips,  each  equivalent  to  from  one 
to  twenty-five  cents,  were  issued  to  employees. 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

Sunday  market  for  Canal  laborers  at  Pedro  Miguel.    The 

venders  spread  their  wares  on  the  grass  and  many 

shrewd  bargains  are  driven 

The  cost  of  these  books  was  deducted  from 
the  employee's  salary,  and  the  slips  were 
torn  off  and  used  as  money  by  the  commissary 
department,  somewhat  as  we  use  books  of 
ice  tickets  here. 

Very  early  in  the  morning  a  special  train 
with  refrigerator  cars  left  Cristobal  with 
fresh  supplies  for  all  the  towns  along  the  line. 
Commissary  wagons  were  waiting  in  each 


130  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

town  ready  to  carry  the  produce  to  the  pur- 
chaser, who  had  ordered  it  the  day  before. 
Almost  every  luxury  common  in  the  United 
States  was  provided  by  the  department. 
The  meals  served  at  the  hotels  were  very 
much  like  those  served  in  the  United  States, 
and,  it  is  said,  cost  less. 

In  1905  the  Commission  _  advertised  free 
quarters  to  both  married  and  single  men. 
Aside  from  the  rent,  fuel  and  distilled  water 
were  also  furnished  free.  Ice  was  delivered 


Type  of  house  built  for  four  families  by  the  United  States 
Government.    In  the  distance  is  the  schoolhouse 


Coming  of  the  Americans  131 

and  garbage  was  removed  without  charge. 
The  houses  were  furnished,  except  for  bed- 


Labor   quarters    built    by   the    United   States   Government 
throughout  the  Canal  Zone 

ding  and  other  personal  belongings.  This 
included  electric  lights  and  telephones,  when 
they  were  needed  for  the  man's  work.  These 
generous  measures  were  taken  to  encourage 
home  life  in  the  Zone,  because  in  the  early 
days  the  men  stayed  so  short  a  time  on 
account  of  homesickness.  A  married  man, 
under  these  conditions,  could  live  as  cheaply 


132  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

as  a  single  man,  and  when  he  had  his  family 
with  him  and  was  saving  more  money  than 
he  could  in  the  States  he  was  likely  to  be 
contented.  At  the  best,  however,  the  life 
was  hard  on  the  women  who  came,  and  those 
who  were  brave  enough  to  conquer  their 
longing  for  home  and  encourage  their  hus- 
bands in  their  work  deserve  much  credit. 

The  houses  built  by  the  government  were 
painted  wooden  structures,  without  plaster. 
On  the  outside  they  were  all  colored  alike, 
a  light  drab,  while  the  interiors  were  likely 
to  be  white  or  green.  Some  were  single 
dwellings;  others  housed  two,  and  some 
four,  families.  Quarters  were  assigned  ac- 
cording to  the  size  of  the  man's  salary.  Only 
thin  clothing  is  used  the  year  around  in 
Panama,  which  allowed  a  great  saving  of 
expense  in  dress.  The  men  often  wore  white 
duck  for  dress.  Panama  hats  were  not  worn 
so  commonly  as  one  might  think,  for  most 
Panama  hats  are  not  made  in  Panama,  but 
in  Colombia  and  Ecuador. 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

A  street  in  Colon.     Here  are  to  be  found  the  residences  built 

by  the  government  for  the  officers  of  the  Isthmian 

Canal  Commission 


134  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

The  first  public  school  was  established  in 
Panama  in  1906.  In  1912  there  were  forty- 
six  white  teachers  and  twenty-eight  colored 
teachers  in  as  many  buildings.  The  sixteen 
hundred  pupils  and  the  teachers  represented 
thirty-six  different  states.  More  than  this, 
there  were  twenty-one  different  nationalities 
enrolled.  The  books  and  -other  material 
used  were  furnished  free  to  the  pupils,  as 
was  the  transportation  over  the  railroad  to 
the  high  schools  at  Gatun  and  Ancon. 

In  the  early  days,  before  the  commissary 
furnished  the  comforts  of  living  in  the  Zone, 
a  representative  of  the  Y.M.C.A.,  Mr.  A. 
Bruce  Minear,  was  sent  to  the  Isthmus  to 
study  the  needs  of  the  employees  in  the  way 
of  clean  amusements.  By  mingling  with  the 
men,  sharing  their  hardships,  and  gaining  their 
confidence,  he  patiently  worked  to  create  a 
demand  for  the  wholesome,  manly  recreations 
furnished  by  the  Association. 

Club  houses  were  built  by  the  government, 
under  the  direction  of  this  organization, 


Coming  of  the  Americans  135 

which  furnished  gymnasiums,  libraries,  club 
rooms  for  literary  and  social  gatherings,  and 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

Manufacturing  Panama  hats.    Here  may  be  seen  the  fiber, 

hung  up  to  dry  and  being  used,  the  beginning  of  a 

hat,  the  cup,  and  several  finished  shapes 

facilities  for  bowling,  billiards,  baseball,  and 
other  clean  sports.  Ice-cream  parlors  were 
a  popular  feature,  and  the  club  rooms  were 
rented  for  dancing.  It  is  impossible  to  say 
just  how  much  this  work  did  toward  curing 
the  homesickness  and  unrest  in  the  Zone, 


Coming  of  the  Americans  137 

but  it  is  certain  that  it  played  a  very  impor- 
tant part  in  the  building  of  the  Canal.  One 
official  declared  it  did  more  than  any  other 
one  department.  The  lonely  man  with  a 
long  evening  on  his  hands  found  entertain- 
ment always  waiting  at  the  club  rooms, 
whereas,  before,  he  had  no  place  to  go  but 
the  saloon.  Following  this  beginning  of  social 
life,  church  clubs,  women's  clubs,  and  lodges 
were  organized.  The  government  built  Com- 
mission chapels  and  furnished  chaplains,  and 
in  every  way  the  life  in  the  United  States 
was  duplicated  as  far  as  possible  for  the  colony 
of  people  living  far  away  from  their  friends 
and  the  opportunities  for  education  and 
culture. 

None  of  the  employees  had  more  than  a 
ten-hour  day  and  many  worked  only  eight 
hours.  There  were  two-hour  intermissions  at 
noon.  Aside  from  free  quarters,  the  men  had 
first-class  board  cheaper  than  they  could 
get  it  in  the  United  States,  and  free  medical 
advice  and  hospital  care  were  furnished  to 


138  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

those  who  were  ill.    They  had  nine  holidays 
on  full  pay,  and  an  annual  vacation  of  forty- 


From  Barrett,  "  Panama  Canal:    What  It  Is,    What  It  Means" 

Medal  given  employees  on  the  Canal  "Gold  Roll"  for  two 
years  of  continuous  service 

two  days  on  salary.  The  Americans  obtained 
reduced  steamer  rates  to  and  from  the 
United  States. 

In  1908,  to  further  induce  the  men  to  stay 
until  the  Canal  should  be  finished,  a  ton  of 
copper,  bronze,  and  tin,  which  was  taken 
from  old  French  locomotives  and  excavators, 
was  shipped  to  the  Philadelphia  mint,  where 
it  was  made  into  medals.  These  are  about 
the  size  of  a  silver  dollar,  with  a  picture  of 
Roosevelt  on  one  side  and  on  the  other  the 
picture  of  a  ship  sailing  through  Culebra  Cut. 


140  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

At  the  completion  of  the  Canal  about  six 
thousand  of  these  were  due  the  employees 
who  had  earned  them  by  working  two  years 
in  the  Zone.  Those  who  had  been  there  six 
years  were  honored  by  becoming  members 
of  the  Society  of  the  Chagres,  which,  it  is 
said,  will  rank  with  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic  and  some  of  the  other  national 
societies. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  survey  roads  for 
wagons  through  the  Zone,  with  some  notion 
of  settling  it  when  the  Canal  was  finished,  but 
so  much  of  it  is  mountainous  that  there  is 
little  inducement  to  the  Americans  to  try 
agriculture,  and  it  was  not  thought  desirable 
to  settle  the  Zone  with  foreign  colonists, 
because  in  case  of  war  they  might  not  be 
loyal  to  our  flag. 

So  the  towns  along  the  route  were  aban- 
doned. Gorgona  and  Empire  removed  parts 
of  their  repair  shops  to  Balboa,  and  the  site 
of  Gorgona  is  now  under  the  waters  of  Gatun 
Lake.  Houses  at  other  points  were  knocked 


Coming  of  the  Americans  141 

down  and  rebuilt  at  Gatun  and  Pedro  Miguel, 
where  they  were  needed  to  house  the  men 


Copyright  by  the  Keystone  View  Co. 

A  scene  in  Cristobal,  Panama  Canal  Zone.    At  the  right  is 
Roosevelt  Avenue  and  on  the  left,  Columbia  Avenue 

who  will  operate  the  lights  and  the  locks  of 
the  Canal.  Cristobal  and  Balboa,  at  the 
entrances  to  the  Canal,  are  the  principal 
cities,  and  soldiers  police  the  Zone,  which  is 
now  a  military  reservation. 


142  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

The  city  of  Panama,  which  is  nearly  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  old,  has  a  population 
of  fifty  thousand.  It  is  the  capital  of  the 
republic  and  the  distributing  center  for  the 
Isthmus.  The  name  means  "plenty  of  fish." 
Spanish  customs  still  prevail  among  the 
aristocracy.  The  business  is  largely  in  the 
hands  of  Chinese  and  Japanese.  The  men 
dabble  in  politics.  The  children  of  the 
well-to-do  are  sent  abroad  to  be  educated. 


Charles  M.  Peacock,  photographer 

Harbor  Market,  Panama  City,  at  low  tide 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


143 


Spanish  architecture  is  found  in  the  houses 
of  the  natives.    The  dwellings  have  red-tiled 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

A  scene  in  Panama  City  since  the  coming  of  the  street  car. 

So  narrow  are  many  of  the  streets  that  the  passing 

of  the  car  blocks  them  completely 

roofs  and  are  made  of  stone  overlaid  with 
colored  stucco.  The  houses  are  built  around 
a  court,  with  the  stairs  leading  to  the  second 
stories  on  the  outside  of  the  house.  The 
people  of  the  better  class  usually  live  in  the 
second  story.  The  Americans  have  greatly 
improved  the  city,  with  paved  streets,  water 


Coming  of  the  Americans  145 

pipes,  and  sewers.  The  Panamanians  were 
shrewd  enough  to  know  that  by  giving  up 
their  stone  basins  and  some  other  customs 
they  were  adding  to  the  value  of  their  prop- 
erty, so  they  submitted  to  the  new  ideas  with 
good  grace. 

There  is  a  magnificent  Catholic  cathedral 
in  the  heart  of  the  city,  surrounded  by  the 
bishop's  palace  and  by  business  blocks.  Pan- 
ama has  a  national  theater  where  grand  opera 
has  a  season  once  a  year.  There  is  street- 
car service  now,  but  many  of  the  tourists 
are  still  taken  over  the  city  in  the  victoria 
carriages  for  ten  cents  a  ride. 

One  of  the  customs  of  Panama  is  the  Sun- 
day lottery.  Tickets  are  sold  all  through  the 
week,  and  every  Sunday  afternoon  there  is 
a  drawing.  The  grand  prize  is  seventy-five 
hundred  dollars  in  silver,  and  the  lucky 
winner  has  to  have  a  cart  to  take  so  large  an 
amount  of  money  home. 

The  great  celebration  of  the  year  is  Inde- 
pendence Day,  November  3,  4,  and  5.  For 


146  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

three  days  business  is  at  a  standstill  and  festiv- 
ities rule.    A  queen  is  elected  by  popular  vote 


Tillottaon  &  Terrell 

In  Panama  City  there  are  many  street  venders  offering  curious 
and  interesting  artichs  for  sale 

and  receives  the  homage  of  all.  Th3  people 
dance  in  the  parks  all  night,  and  masquerade 
in  picturesque  costumes. 

Already  the  higher  social  and  business 
circles  of  Panama  are  adopting  English,  and 
the  youth  look  to  the  United  States  as  the 
land  of  their  dreams.  The  Spanish  Catho- 
lics are  largely  responsible  for  the  Spanish 


Coming  of  the  Americans  147 

language  and  customs  that  prevail  along  the 
entire  west  coast  of  South  and  Central 
America.  That  religion  is  the  religion  of  the 
people.  In  time,  it  is  believed,  the  English 
language  will  be  in  equal  use. 


LEADERS  IN  THE  PROJECT 

THE  MEN  TO  WHOM  WE  OWE  THE  PANAMA  CANAL 

THE  greater  part  of  the  work  of  building 
the  Canal  was  done  during  the  admin- 
istrations of  Roosevelt  and  Taft.  Taft,  as 
Secretary  of  War,  visited  the  Isthmus  several 
times  and  arranged  many  diplomatic  ques- 
tions. Roosevelt  was  heart  and  soul  in  the 
enterprise  from  the  beginning,  and  was  much 
admired  by  the  employees  on  the  Zone. 

When  he  visited  the  Canal  at  one  time  a 
large  flag  was  hung  across  Culebra  Cut  in 
his  honor  bearing  the  words:  "We  are 
here  to  help/'  With  his  love  for  the  rough 
life,  Roosevelt  enjoyed  personally  visiting 
every  part  of  the  construction  and  the  exca- 
vation work.  He  shook  hands  with  the 
employees  and  stood  in  line  at  their  mess 
tents.  When  troubles  arose  on  the  Isthmus 
he  sent  Secretary  Taft  or  a  commission  of 

148 


Coming  of  the  Americans  149 

engineers  to  make  a  prompt  investigation, 
and  as  fast  as  the  forms  of  government  would 


Copyright  by  Clinedinst,  Washington,  D.C. 

Ex-president  Theodore  Roosevelt,  to  whose  initiative  is  due 
the   Panama   Canal 

permit  he  removed  all  obstacles  at  Wash- 
ington that  stood  in  the  way  of  the  work. 


150  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

Although  the  reports  of  the  greater  number 
of  engineers  that  Roosevelt  had  sent  to  deter- 
mine the  best  kind  of  a  canal  to  build  stood 
in  favor  of  the  sea-level  type,  both  Roosevelt 
and  Taft  used  all  of  their  influence  to 
further  the  lock  plan.  It  was  because  of 
this  that  a  small  majority  was  obtained  in 
Congress  in  favor  of  the  lock  type.  Later, 
Roosevelt  stood  out  stoutly  against  the 
plan  of  letting  out  the  work  by  contract 
instead  of  having  it  all  under  government 
control.  Both  these  decisions  proved  to  be 
most  wise  and  of  untold  aid  in  the  progress 
of  the  Canal. 

When  Roosevelt  found  that  the  first  Com- 
mission of  seven  men  was  too  slow  in  acting, 
he  organized  a  new  Commission  and  appointed 
a  committee  for  action,  the  majority  of  which 
lived  in  the  Canal  Zone.  When  this  proved 
unsatisfactory  he  chose  an  army  officer  as 
chairman  of  the  I.  C.  C.  with  all  other 
officers  subordinate  to  him,  and  put  him  in 
complete  control  of  all  matters  in  the  Canal 


152  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

Zone  so  that  nothing  should  stand  in  the  way 
of  the  prompt  measures  and  quick  decisions 
necessary  to  carry  on  the  work  as  fast  as 
possible.  Taft  was  equally  valuable  in 
preserving  pleasant  relations  with  the  Pan- 
amanian government  and  in  settling  money 
troubles  and  other  affairs  of  state. 

John  F.  Wallace  was  the  first  chief  engineer 
appointed  by  President  Roosevelt.  In  1904, 
with  Governor  Davis  and  Colonel  Gorgas,  he 
went  to  the  Isthmus,  where  he  found  only 
a  narrow  path  through  the  jungle  marked 
by  the  railroad,  which  was  aptly  described 
as  "just  two  streaks  of  rust  and  a  right  of 
way."  He  found  over  seven  hundred  men 
at  work  with  hand  tools  in  Culebra  Cut. 
His  headquarters  were  at  Panama  in  a 
building  that  once  belonged  to  the  French 
director-general. 

Wallace  repaired  the  railroad  and  rescued 
from  the  jungle  fifty-eight  locomotives  and 
nine  hundred  and  eighty  dump  cars  that 
belonged  to  the  French.  But  being  a  man 


Coming  of  the  Americans  153 

of  large  vision  he  soon  saw  that  the  tools 
then  in  use  would  never  accomplish  the  work 


Copyright  by  Clinedinst,  Washington,  B.C. 

Ex-president  William  H.  Taft,  whose  four  years  of  faithful 
service  carried  forward  the  stupendous  task  at  the  Isthmus 

before  him,  so  he  at  once  gave  an  order  f: 
nine  immense  steam  shovels. 


154  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water'9 

The  houses  left  by  the  French  were  found 
to  be  inhabited  by  natives  or  buried  in  the 
jungle.  He  repaired  three  hundred  and  fifty 
of  these  and  built  others,  until  he  had  four 
hundred  ready  for  the  employees.  These 
were  by  no  means  enough  to  accommodate 
the  laborers  that  came. 

To  get  things  through-  the  Commission 
at  Washington  meant  great  delay  at  first. 
Because  the  French  had  wasted  money,  the 
Commission  felt  it  must  proceed  very  care- 
fully. Many  things  that  were  urgently 
needed  were  either  refused  by  the  Commission 
or  delayed  while  they  advertised  for  bids 
so  that  they  might  get  them  as  cheaply  as 
possible.  This  plan  often  delayed  operations 
many  months. 

Considering  the  delay  with  which  the 
Commission  responded  to  the  demands  of 
Wallace — and  of  Gorgas,  who  was  working 
hard  to  clean  up  the  Zone — it  is  remarkable 
how  much  was  accomplished  the  first  year. 
Besides  putting  the  houses  in  order,  they 


Coming  of  the  Americans  155 

found  a  large  dredge  in  excellent  condition 
and  put  it  to  work  in  Colon  harbor.  When 
the  jungle  was  cut  away,  machine  shops 
covering  several  acres  were  found  at  Gorgona 
and  Colon,  and  as  soon  as  machinists  could 
be  secured  they  were  put  to  work  repairing 
the  rolling  stock  of  the  railroad. 

It  required  unusual  courage  to  live  on  the 
Isthmus  in  1904.  The  cities  of  Colon  and 
Panama  were  wretchedly  dirty.  There  was 
no  ice,  the  food  was  poor,  and  drinking  water 
had  to  be  caught  from  the  roofs.  Insects 
made  life  miserable,  and  there  were  no  baths. 
Powder  boxes  served  as  chairs,  and  other 
furniture  was  scarce. 

Many  workers  who  came  to  the  Zone  that 
first  year  returned  to  their  homes  by  the 
next  steamer.  While  the  government  was 
making  every  effort  to  get  good  men  to  go  to 
the  Isthmus,  magazines  and  newspapers  were 
publishing  stories  about  the  living  conditions 
there  that  discouraged  those  on  the  point  of 
going.  Because  the  people  were  clamoring 


156  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water'' 

to  "see  the  dirt  fly/'  Wallace  kept  a  force  at 
work  in  Culebra  Cut  when  he  should  have 
been  bending  every  effort  toward  the  surveys 
that  were  to  determine  the  plan  to  be  followed. 
Near  the  end  of  the  first  year  the  President 
reorganized  the  I.  C.  C.,  as  we  have  said, 
and  arranged  it  so  that  the  majority  of  the 
acting  committee  lived  in  the  Zone  and  were 
permitted  to  spend  sums  not  exceeding  a 
thousand  dollars  when  it  seemed  necessary, 
without  waiting  to  consult  the  rest  of  the 


A  street  in  Colon  before  the  work  of  "cleaning  up"  the 

Canal  Zone  was  begun.     In  the  middle  of  the 

street  was  an  open  sewer 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


157 


committee.      Some    other    questions    were 
settled,  making  it  easier  to  get  laborers  and 


The  same  street  in  Colon  after  the  Sanitary  Department  had 
done  its  work 

supplies,  and,  as  living  conditions  were  im- 
proving, things  looked  brighter.  But  just 
at  this  point  two  discouraging  things  hap- 
pened. Wallace  resigned,  and  yellow  fever 
broke  out  on  the  Isthmus,  taking  the  lives  of 
thirty-seven  Americans. 

John  F.  Stevens  was  the  next  chief  engineer. 
He  was  a  splendid  organizer,  and,  building 


158  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

on  the  work  already  done,  he  accomplished 
a  great  deal  in  the  second  year.  He  solved 
the  labor  problem  by  bringing  in  the  negroes 
from  the  West  Indies  and  the  still  better 
laborers  from  Spain.  He  said  that  a  railroad 
that  could  have  nothing  better  said  for  it 
than  that  it  never  had  any  collisions  was  a 
failure.  He  pointed  out  the  fact  that  it  was 
better  sometimes  to  have  a  few  collisions, 
just  to  show  that  things  were  moving.  He 
arranged  a  wonderful  system  of  tracks  and 
train  service  that  kept  the  dirt  cars  always 
waiting  for  a  load  at  Culebra  Cut.  At  the 
end  of  a  year  after  Stevens  took  charge, 
thirty-nine  steam  shovels  were  puffing  in  the 
Cut,  there  was  a  working  force  of  twenty- 
three  thousand  men,  the  commissary  was 
feeding  the  employees,  and  the  lock  canal 
was  decided  upon. 

Stevens  strongly  favored  the  lock  type  of 
canal,  which  Wallace  as  firmly  believed  could 
never  be  successfully  built  because  of  the 
swampy  land  at  Gatun,  which  he  thought 


Coming  of  the  Americans  159 

would  not  support  a  dam.  But  in  spite  of 
the  splendid  progress  Stevens  was  making, 
the  political  end  of  the  job  troubled  him, 
and  in  January,  1907,  he,  too,  resigned,  to  the 
great  disappointment  of  the  Canal  workers, 
who  were  all  very  fond  of  him. 

Then  said  Roosevelt:  "Let  us  have  a 
man  who  cannot  resign/'  And  he  chose  an 
army  officer  to  succeed  Stevens  and  placed 
the  Canal  Zone  under  military  rule.  George 
W.  Goethals  was  experienced  in  building 
locks  and  dams.  He  had  been  a  student  and 
a  teacher  at  West  Point  and  was  chief  of 
engineers  during  the  Spanish-American  War. 
All  officers  on  the  Canal  Zone  were  made 
subordinate  to  him. 

Many  of  the  men  on  the  Isthmus  did  not 
like  the  idea  of  army  rule.  Since  Stevens 
had  been  an  unusual  favorite,  they  were 
inclined  not  to  like  the  new  order  of  things. 
Goethals  realized  this,  and  won  their  favor 
by  promising  a  fair  hearing  to  every  man 
with  a  grievance.  He  kept  this  promise  by 


160  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

devoting  every  Sunday  morning  to  the  people 
who  wished  to  bring  any  trouble  to  his  court. 
The  poorest-paid  laborer  received  as  kindly 
consideration  as  the  best-paid  man  on  the  job. 

Some  one  who  visited  this  Sunday-morning 
court  tells  these  typical  incidents: 

"First  appeared  a  colored  man  and  his 
wife,  who  were  squabbling  over  thirty-five 
dollars.  Goethals  listened  to  the  tale  until 
he  found  that  the  woman  had  earned  the 
money  washing;  then  he  told  the  husband 
that  if  he  wished  to  claim  the  money  he  would 
have  to  go  back  to  Jamaica,  where  he  would  be 
under  laws  that  would  give  the  husband  the 
right  to  spend  his  wife's  money. 

"A  man  who  had  lost  a  hand  in  some  Zone 
machinery  came  to  get  damages.  Goethals 
called  one  of  his  clerks  and  bade  him  fill  out 
the  papers  for  the  sufferer. 

"A  cruel  overseer  was  sent  up  for  correc- 
tion. His  tale  was  heard,  and  he  was  duly 
warned  against  being  a  slave  driver  in  the 
future,  as  they  were  not  tolerated  on  the  Zone. 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


161 


"A  negro  who  was  not  satisfied  with  his 
wages  was  obliged  to  face  his  own  record  in 


Copyright  by  Clinedinst,  Washington,  D.C. 

Colonel  George   W.  Goethals,  formerly  chairman  and  chief 

engineer  of  the  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  now  Governor 

of  the  Canal  Zone 

black  and  white,  the  same  sort  of  a  record 
as  is  kept  of  every  employee  on  the  Canal 


162  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  oj  Water" 

Zone.  Goethals  figured  that  according  t< 
this  report  he  was  getting  more  than  he  w; 
worth.  When  the  negro  threatened  to  ap] 
his  case,  the  judge's  eyes  twinkled  as  h< 
asked,  'To  whom?'  This  sort  of  thing  coi 
tinued  for  several  hours/' 

Goethals  is  a  very  hard  worker.  He  spent 
the  mornings  on  the  works,  his  afternoons  and 
evenings  in  his  office,  and  his  Sunday  morn- 
ings holding  court.  He  had  at  his  finger  tips 
every  detail  of  the  Canal  construction.  He 
accepted  nothing  but  written  reports  from 
the  men,  and  the  words  most  frequently  on 
his  lips  were,  "Write  it  down."  He  always 
heard  both  sides  of  a  question,  and  his  deci- 
sions were  final  and,  so  far  as  he  could  con- 
scientiously make  them  so,  just.  He  had 
no  vacation  from  the  time  he  took  charge  of 
the  work  until  it  was  finished,  except  an 
occasional  necessary  trip  to  Washington. 

While  it  is  entirely  probable  that  Goethals 
could  have  done  the  work  that  the  other  chief 
engineers  did,  still  we  must  not  overlook  the 


164  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

fact  that  when  he  took  charge  of  the  enter- 
prise it  was  comparatively  smooth  sailing. 
The  problems  of  labor,  construction,  and 
living  were  all  settled.  It  is  doubtful,  how- 
ever, if  any  one  could  have  completed  the 
project  with  more  economy,  promptness,  and 
smoothness  than  he  has  done. 

Goethals  generously  says  that  no  army 
officer  could  have  organized  Stevens'  system 
for  operating  the  railroad.  And  doubtless 
both  Wallace  and  Stevens  might  have  carried 
the  work  to  completion  had  they  been  given 
Goethals'  power. 

President  Wilson  appointed  Goethals  gover- 
nor of  the  Canal  Zone,  April  1,  1914. 

Governors  Davis  and  Magoon  organized 
the  schools  and  the  police  force,  and  improved 
other  civic  conditions  before  the  Zone  was 
put  under  army  rule.  Colonel  Gorgas,  who 
stayed  on  the  Isthmus  from  1904  until  the 
Canal  was  completed,  accomplished  a  task 
that  was  most  unusual,  and  taught  the  whole 
world  lessons  of  health  and  right  living.  He 


Coming  of  the  Americans  165 

has  been  made  surgeon-general  of  the  army. 
Engineer  Gaillard,  who  had  charge  of  Culebra 
Cut,  gave  his  life  to  the  undertaking.  Engi- 
neer Sibert  built  the  Gatun  locks,  and  he  and 
every  member  of  the  I.  C.  C.  are  deserving 
of  all  honor.  Not  only  to  the  leaders  who 
built  the  great  Panama  Canal,  but  to  every 
employee  who  gave  loyally  of  the  best  he. had 
to  the  completion  of  the  wonderful  work 
that  will  mean  so  much  to  all  the  world, 
must  we  give  due  credit. 


THE    ZONE    A    MILITARY 
RESERVATION 

How  "UNCLE  SAM"  PROTECTS  His  INTERESTS 

E  Panama  Canal  is  now  really  a  part 
-*•  of  our  seacoast.  Therefore  it  is  most 
important  that  the  United  States  shall  have 
entire  control  of  it  and  its  privileges.  The 
Canal  Zone  is  not  under  the  Constitution 
but  is  governed  by  orders  from  the  President 
and  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  by  laws  espe- 
cially enacted  by 'Congress.  On  the  official 
seal  of  the  Zone  are  the  words:  "The  Land 
Divided— The  World  United." 

Heretofore  the  distance  around  the  vast 
continent  of  South  America  has  prevented 
the  enemy  from  attacking  both  our  coasts  at 
once.  We  have  not  a  navy  large  enough  to 
protect  both  coasts  at  the  same  time,  so  in 
case  of  war  it  might  mean  success  to  us  to  be 
able  to  use  the  Canal  for  the  bringing  together 

166 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


167 


of  our  fleet  while  we  forced  our  enemy  to 
use    the    long    route    to    reach    the    other 


The  United  States  battelship  "Oregon"  which  in  1915  could 

accomplish  in  eight  hours  the  journey  which  in   1898 

required  a  month 

coast.  Should  we  have  war  with  two  nations 
at  once,  one  in  the  Far  East  and  one  in  Europe, 
our  possession  of  the  Canal  would  force  them 
to  operate  on  lines  eight  thousand  miles 
longer  than  ours. 

Since  in  time  of  war  we  cannot  trust  to  a 
treaty  or  a  promise  to  protect  us,  we  have 
carefully  guarded  our  rights  at  the  Isthmus 


168  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water 


with  fortifications.  Protecting  the  Canal 
against  the  passing  of  an  enemy's  fleet  is 
not  a  step  toward  v/ar  but  a  step  toward 
preventing  it.  England  owns  a  controlling 
interest  in  the  Suez  Canal,  and  by  her  fortifi- 
cations excludes  all  powers  from  passage 
except  for  purposes  of  commerce.  In  order 
to  keep  her  promise  to  protect  the  commerce 
of  the  Canal,  the  United  States  must  keep 
entire  control  of  the  Zone. 

By   building   forts   at   the   Atlantic   and 
Pacific  entrances  to  the  Canal  far  enough 


Copyright  by  Underwood  <fe  Underwood. 


The  Pacific  entrance  to  the  Panama   Canal 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


169 


out  to  prevent  the  enemy's  fleet  bombarding 
the  locks,  we  will  make  it  necessary  for  the 


Copyright  by  the  International  News  Service 

One  of  the  big  "16"  guns  to  be  placed  among  the  fortifications 
which  guard  the  Canal 

hostile  fleet  to  land  troops  in  order  to  do 
injury  to  the  Canal.  These  outer  fortifica- 
tions not  only  prevent  the  bombardment  of 
the  locks,  but  they  will  enable  our  ships  to  get 
in  line  for  action  after  passing  through  the 
Canal,  where  they  would  have  to  come  out 
of  the  locks  one  by  one.  More  than  this,  a 
seacoast  artillery  will  prevent  an  enemy  from 


170  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

landing  within  a  distance  of  six  or  seven 
miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Canal. 

But  in  spite  of  all  these  precautions,  indi- 
viduals or  small  parties  may  creep  in  and 
destroy  some  important  work  with  explosives 
unless  the  garrison  of  the  fort  is  constantly 
on  guard  against  it.  It  would  be  a  difficult 
matter  for  the  marines  or  sailors  from  a 
hostile  fleet  to  make  a  raid  in  the  jungle. 
The  greatest  danger  would  result  from  an 
attack  made  by  an  army  assisted  by  South 
American  or  Central  American  troops.  Every- 
thing would  be  in  favor  of  the  men  who  best 
knew  the  conditions  of  the  jungle  and  how 
to  seek  the  enemy  out  in  the  swamps  or  to 
delay  him  until  disease  aided  in  his  defeat. 

The  cost  of  the  fortifications  at  Toro  Point, 
in  the  Atlantic,  and  Flamenco  Island,  in  the 
Pacific,  amounted  to  more  than  twelve  million 
dollars.  The  present  garrison  is  composed 
of  infantry,  with  a  small  force  of  cavalry  for 
use  as  scouts  and  patrols.  The  latest  and 
largest  disappearing  rifles  are  in  use.  The 


172  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

Atlantic  entrance  is  better  guarded  than  the 
Pacific,  but  at  present  there  is  more  danger 
of  attack  here.  The  base  of  supplies  we  have 
established  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  would 
be  an  aid  to  the  Pacific  garrison.  If  a  serious 
attempt  were  made  to  capture  the  Canal  and 
to  hold  it  against  us,  the  garrison  would 
have  to  be  speedily  reenforced. 

To  this  end,  the  Navy  Department  has 
selected  a  site  for  a  wireless  station  near 
San  Pablo,  twenty  miles  inland  from  the 
Atlantic,  on  the  east  side  of  Gatun  Lake. 
This  station  is  on  an  elevation  one  hundred 
and  ten  feet  above  the  lake  level.  It  can 
send  a  message  three  thousand  miles,  and  can 
communicate  with  Washington  or  a  similar  sta- 
tion on  the  California  coast.  Smaller  stations 
are  at  Colon,  Balboa,  and  Porto  Bello. 

The  soldiers  police  the  Zone,  permitting 
entrance  to  no  one  who  is  hostile  to  our 
nation.  Vessels  may  coal  at  Colon  or  Balboa 
and  secure  fresh  provisions.  Repairs  may 
be  made  and  cargoes  handled  promptly. 


Coming  of  the  Americans  173 

tWith  all  these  provisions  for  the  convenience 
of  passing  steamers  it  will  not  be  necessary 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

View  of  the  reservoir  and  wireless  station  at  Porto  Bello 

for  other  nations  to  establish  like  facilities 
in  the  Zone.  Ice  plants,  cold  storage,  and 
other  commissary  aids  have  long  been  on  the 
Isthmus,  and  our  nation  can  supply  coal 
cheaper  than  any  other  could.  In  fact,  the 
difference  between  the  cost  of  coal  at  Panama 
and  at  Suez,  it  is  said,  will  go  far  toward  the 
paying  of  the  tolls  through  the  Panama  Canal. 


THE  CANAL  AS  A  COMMERCIAL 
HIGHWAY 

How  IT  PROMOTES  OUR  TRADE 

TT)UT  it  is  for  peaceful  purposes  rather 
-*-*  than  for  military  use_s  that  the  United 
States  hopes  to  use  the  Canal.  The  primary 
object  in  its  building  was  to  promote  domestic 
trade,  or  commerce  between  our  two  coasts. 
Already  the  United  States  does  a  larger 
coastwise  trade  than  any  other  nation  in  the 
world.  Heretofore  the  products  of  the  west- 
ern coast  have  been  brought  to  us  in  three 
ways:  by  sailing  with  them  around  Cape 
Horn;  by  bringing  them  across  the  Isthmus 
by  way  of  the  Panama  railroad,  or  by  the 
Mexican  railroad  across  Tehuantepec;  or 
by  one  of  the  transcontinental  railroads 
across  the  United  States. 

Before  the  Canal  was  finished  a  certain 
tug  and  three  barges  lying  on  the  Atlantic 

174 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


175 


coast  were  needed  at  Balboa,   the  Pacific 
port,  only  forty-seven  miles  away.    One  way 


Photo  Service,  Chicago 


First  commercial  use  of  the  Canal.     Towing  piles  to  Atlantic 
side  for  breakwater.    Scene  opposite  the  village  of  Culebra 

to  get  them  there  was  to  take  them  to  pieces, 
send  them  across  by  railroad,  and  rebuild 
them  on  the  other  side;  the  other  was  to  take 
them  around  Cape  Horn.  The  journey  of 
10,500  miles  around  South  America  took  over 
four  months;  had  the  Canal  been  finished, 
it  might  have  been  made  in  ten  hours. 

Now  San  Francisco,  Seattle,  and  Portland 
may  place  their  products  in  our  Atlantic 
ports  with  a  great  saving  of  time  and  expense. 


176  Panama  and  Its  "  Bridge  of  Water" 

San  Francisco,  by  way  of  Cape  Horn,  was 
fourteen  thousand  miles  from  New  York; 
it  is  now  a  little  less  than  five  thousand  miles, 
or  a  trifle  more  than  one  third  of  the  former 
journey  by  water.  Wheat,  wines,  barley, 
hops,  dried  fruits,  and  mining  products  may 
be  brought  to  the  Gulf  and  Atlantic  ports 
much  more  cheaply  than  by  the  railroads 
crossing  the  United  States.  It  is  estimated 
that  the  cost  of  shipping  from  the  western 
coast  to  the  eastern  will  be  reduced  one  third. 

Machinery,  manufactures,  and  other  fin- 
ished products  of  the  Eastern  states  may  be 
sent  to  the  Pacific  coast  at  a  lower  cost. 
Iron  can  be  purchased  more  cheaply  in 
Alabama  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world. 
The  Tennessee  mills  produce  machinery  and 
the  Southern  states  center  a  large  share  of 
their  manufactures  on  the  steel  and  hardware 
business.  The  states  and  countries  on  the 
Pacific  coast  are  anxious  for  these  products. 

It  is  predicted  that  the  next  generation 
will  see  ocean  steamers  sailing  down  the 


Coming  of  the  Americans  111 

Mississippi  from  Duluth  en  route  to  San 
Francisco  by  way  of  Colon.  This  will  give 
a  great  impetus  to  the  manufacturing  of 
cotton  and  iron  in  the  valley  of  our  great 
river  and  the  heart  of  our  country  which 
has  hitherto  been  shut  off  from  coast  trade. 
By  means  of  the  Canal,  the  East  can  get 
hold  of  the  western  lumber  that  it  so  much 
needs,  and  the  East  will  exchange,  besides 
machinery  and  manufactures,  much  coal  for 
the  grain,  lumber,  and  sugar  from  the  West. 
In  1907  the  American-Hawaiian  line  of 
steamers  shifted  from  the  Panama  railroad 
to  the  Mexican  line  crossing  Tehuantepec 
while  the  Canal  was  being  built,  because  they 
could  get  prompter  service.  In  six  years  the 
cargo  tons  had  doubled  and  the  sugar  tonnage 
from  Hawaii  to  the  eastern  coast  of  the  United 
States  made  it  necessary  in  1911  to  order 
five  new  steamers.  Since  they  have  been 
obliged  to  hand  over  to  the  railroad  company 
about  one  third  of  their  profits  for  shipping, 
the  Canal  will  prove  a  great  boon  to  them. 


178  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

The  United  States  has  been  so  busy  farm- 
ing, mining,  manufacturing,  and  exchanging 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

These  five  submarines,  with  a  collier  and  the  monitor  "Montauk," 

voyaged  from  Guantanamo,  Cuba,  to  Colon,  Panama, 

the  longest  journey  on  record  for  a  submarine 

its  products  among  its  own  states  that  it  has 
only  recently  arrived  at  the  point  where  it 
desires  to  have  its  share  of  commerce  with 
other  nations.  Some  of  the  South  American 
countries  are  becoming  great  nations,  and 
the  United  States  is  anxious  to  secure  a 
larger  share  of  their  trade.  We  are  likely 


Coming  of  the  Americans  179 

to  forget  that  South  America  lies  east  of  the 
greater  part  of  North  America,  which  makes 
it  nearer  to  Europe  than  to  the  United  States. 
European  nations  have  secured  almost  all 
of  the  South  American  trade.  They  have 
studied  the  needs  of  these  countries  and  have 
learned  many  ways  to  obtain  their  favor. 
England  and  Germany  send  men  who  speak 
the  Spanish  language  to  secure  business 
from  these  nations.  They  pack  their  mer- 
chandise in  small  boxes  that  can  be  easily 
carried  over  the  mountains.  Four  fifths  of 
the  nitrate  shipped  from  the  coast  of  Chile 
goes  to  Europe,  and  only  one  fifth  to  the 
United  States.  Most  of  the  Chilean  grain  also 
goes  to  Europe.  South  America  spends  eighty- 
six  million  dollars  yearly  for  cotton,  but  only 
five  per  cent  of  this  is  bought  from  the  United 
States.  Our  cotton  will  soon  be  used  in  pref- 
erence, for  we  can  supply  them  more  cheaply 
now,  because  of  the  Canal.  It  is  believed  that 
the  great  European  War  will  also  turn  much 
of  this  South  American  trade  to  our  markets. 


180  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water1' 

The  distance  between  our  eastern  coast 
and  the  Philippines  by  way  of  the  Suez  Canal 
is  not  greatly  reduced  by  the  Panama  Canal. 
We  shall,  however,  be  able  to  call  at  the 
ports  of  Hongkong,  Yokohama,  and  San 
Francisco  on  our  way,  gathering  much  trade 
en  route  to  the  Philippines.  The  cost  of 
fuel  will  be  less,  and  by  being  able  to  obtain  a 
fresh  supply  of  coal  at  the  Isthmus  the  vessels 
will  be  able  to  take  a  larger  cargo,  as  less 
space  will  be  required  for  fuel.  Our  Atlantic 
seaboard  will  be  brought  four  thousand  miles 
nearer  to  Australia  and  New  Zealand.  These 
countries  have  a  large  export  trade  in  wool, 
hides,  and  other  material,  which  the  United 
States  should  share  with  England.  Trade 
with  China  and  Japan  will  now  reach  the 
eastern  coast  of  our  country  as  well  as 
the  western. 

Congress  has  authorized  a  maximum  freight 
rate  through  the  Canal  of  $1.25  a  ton  and  a 
rate  of  $1.50  for  every  passenger  who  passes 
through.  All  ships  are  subject  to  the  same 


Coming  of  the  Americans  181 

rules,  because  the  United  States  promised 
that  the  Canal  should  be  open  to  all  nations 
on  equal  terms.  However,  the  warships 
belonging  to  our  government  are  privileged 
to  pass  through  without  paying  toll. 

It  may  be  several  years  before  the  Canal 
will  be  able  to  earn  the  fourteen  million  dollars 
a  year  necessary  to  support  it.  It  requires 
twenty-five  hundred  men  as  an  operating 
force  at  a  cost  of  four  million  dollars  a 
year,  besides  the  interest  on  the  investment. 
The  Suez  Canal  pays  for  itself  every  four 
years,  but  it  cost  much  less  than  the  one  at 
Panama. 


THE   PANAMA-PACIFIC    EXPOSITION 

AMERICA'S  TRIUMPHAL  CELEBRATION 

THE  Panama-Pacific  Exposition  held  in 
San  Francisco  in  1915  is  in  honor  of 
the  union  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  ocean 
traffic.  San  Francisco  was  chosen  for  the 
site  of  the  Exposition  because  it  is  our  oldest 
city  of  size  and  prominence  lying  on  the 
Pacific  coast  and  facing  the  countries  of  Asia. 

It  has  a  fine  harbor — the  one  most  suit- 
able for  the  great  sea  event  planned  to 
celebrate  the  opening  of  our  new  waterway. 
This  harbor  is  surrounded  by  hills,  forming 
on  the  ocean  front  a  beautiful  amphitheater 
of  great  size. 

The  grounds  of  the  Exposition  comprise 
a  tract  of  six  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres 
on  partly  sloping  ground  extending  two  miles 
along  the  harbor  where  the  sea-going  shi] 
pass.  A  wide  esplanade  extends  along  the 

182 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


183 


water's    edge,    furnished    with    seats,   from 
which  displays  on  the  ocean  may  be  seen. 


Universal  Photo  Service,  Chicago 


The  Palace  of  Education,  one  of  the  many  imposing  buildings 
of  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition 


The  temperature  in  San  Francisco  is  often 
suddenly  changed  by  the  cold  sea  winds  that 
are  unpleasantly  strong  where  the  sweep  is 
unbroken  along  the  harbor's  edge.  As  a 
protection  from  this  a  wind  barrier  has  been 
built.  It  is  a  giant  sea  wall,  sixty  feet  high, 
facing  the  ocean,  and  gives  the  Exposition 
grounds  an  appearance  similar  to  that  of  the 


184  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

walled  cities  of  France  and  Spain.  The 
wall  is  pierced  along  the  harbor  frontage 
by  three  gateways  which  lead  into  the  inte- 
rior courts.  One  of  the  gateways  is  called 
Columbus,  and  one  of  the  others,  Balboa. 

Mr.  Jules  Guerin,  who  made  the  plan  of 
the  Exposition,  gave  special  attention  to 
color.  Because  the  residence  portion  of  San 
Francisco  is  on  the  hills  above  the  grounds, 
the  buildings  were  designed  with  much 
thought  to  the  roofs.  The  Chicago  World's 
Fair  was  all  in  white.  Looking  down  upon 
the  Pacific  Exposition  grounds  the  design 
and  effect  is  that  of  an  immense  Persian  rug. 
The  pillars,  statues,  fountains,  masts,  walls, 
and  flagpoles  are  all  in  rich  ivory  yellow.  In 
order  to  have  everything  in  harmony,  Mr. 
Guerin  himself  personally  superintended  the 
dyeing  of  the  bunting  for  the  flags  and  dra- 
peries. The  domes  are  in  gold,  the  roofs  of 
red  tile,  and  the  minarets  of  copper  green. 
The  courts  are  filled  with  greens  and  flowers, 
all  adding  to  the  warm,  bright  hues, 


Coming  of  the  Americans 


185 


Aside  from  the  usual  displays  in  the  state 
buildings,  some  of  the  foreign  countries  have 


Universal  Photo  Service,  Chicago 


The  Palace  of  Horticulture,  with  its  great  dome  rising  almost 

two  hundred  feet,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  remark- 

able buildings  of  the  Exposition 

wonderful  exhibits.  There  is  a  large  live-stock 
exhibit  with  generous  premiums.  The  avia- 
tion and  race  track  meet  is  a  new  feature  in 
world  expositions. 

Among  the  attractions  in  the  "midway" 
is  a  working  model  of  the  Panama  Canal, 


186  Panama  and  Its  "Bridge  of  Water" 

large  enough  to  send  two  thousand  people 
through  the  locks  every  twenty  minutes. 
There  is  also  an  exhibit 
of  every  kind  of  machin- 
ery used  by  the  French 
and  the  Americans  in  the 
thirty-five  years  of  con- 
struction work  from  1880 
to  1915. 

Universal  Photo  Service,  Chicago  ••   *•  TTT          TN  A  '  T~l 

The  official  seal.  of  the  Mr-     W.     D.     A  Ryan, 

Panama-Pacific  Exposition  Qf 


lighting  of  the  Canal,  has  charge  of  the  light- 
ing of  the  grounds  and  buildings.  At  Chicago, 
arc-lights  on  posts  were  used;  at  Buffalo, 
outline  lighting  made  all  the  buildings  of 
the  Pan-American  Exposition  beautiful,  but 
at  San  Francisco  the  indirect  method  of  light- 
ing is  used.  All  lights  are  concealed  in  the  col- 
onnades or  masked  batteries,  and  the  reflected 
rays  give  a  wonderful  imitation  of  daylight. 
A  great  exposition  is  now  looked  upon  as  a 
means  of  education  for  all  nations,  especially 
in  the  way  of  art.  Many  deserving  artists 


Coming  of  the  Americans  187 

have  been  brought  to  notice  and  favor  by 
their  work  at  these  public  fairs.  Each 
court  of  the  "walled  city"  has  been  treated 
differently  by  a  different  architect,  and  the 
whole  is  adorned  by  large  mural  paintings 
and  groups  of  sculpture  by  different  artists. 

Thousands  of  Americans  are  going  through 
the  Canal  on  their  way  to  the  Panama-Pacific 
Exposition,  making  a  cruise  from  New  York 
of  eighteen  days. 

Every  difficulty  has  been  overcome,  and 
the  wrork  of  making  the  Canal  a  success  is 
full  of  glory  and  achievement.  It  is  fitting, 
therefore,  that  we,  as  a  nation,  "rejoice  in 
the  courage,  the  persistence,  and  the  indom- 
itable ability  that  have  finished  the  great 
work  in  Panama."  "The  Land  Divided— 
The  World  United"  is  truly  a  fitting  seal  for 
the  wonderful  "Bridge  of  Water." 


A  GUIDE  TO  PRONUNCIATION 

The  following  key  explains  the  symbols  used  to  indicate  the 
pronunciation  of  the  words  in  THE  GLOSSARY.  It  is  based  on 
the  latest  edition  of  Webster's  New  International  Dictionary. 

a as  in  ale 

a as  in  senate 

£ as  in  am 

a as  in  final 

a as  in  arm 

a as  in  ask 

a as  in  sof a 

e as  in  eve 

e .as  in  create 

e as  in  end 

e as  in  cinder 

I as  in  ice 

i as  in  ill 

6 as  in  old 

6 as  in  obey 

6 as  in  lord 

6 as  in  odd 

6b. .  .  .as  in  food 


188 


THE  GLOSSARY 

Balboa    (bal  bo'a) 

Bas  Obispo    (bas  6  bes'po) 

Bocas  del  Toro    (bo'cas  del  to'ro) 

Caribbean    (kar  rib'  e  an) 

Ceron    (se  ron') 

Chagres    (sha'gres) 

Chiriqui    (che're  ke') 

Cristobal    (kris  to'  bdl) 

Cocoli    (kokole') 

Colon    (kolon') 

Cortes    (kor'tez) 

Cucaracha    (koo  ka  ra'cha) 

Culebra    (koo  la'bra) 

De  Lesseps    (dele'seps') 

Flamenco    (flo  man'kb) 

Gatun    (ga  tun') 

Goethals    (go'thalz) 

Gorgas    (gorr  gas) 

Guatemala    (gwa'ta  ma'ld) 

Guerin    (ger'in) 

Hawaii    (ha  wi'e) 

Jamaica    (id  ma'kdO 

Limon    (le  mon') 

Magoon    (md  goon') 

Minear    (mi  ner') 

Miguel    (me  gel') 

189 


190  The  Glossary 

Nombre  de  Dios    (nom'bra  da  dyos) 

Panama    (pan'0  ma') 

Panamanian    (pan'0  ma'ni  an) 

Pedro  Miguel    (pe'dro  me  gel') 

Pizarro    (pi  zar'ro) 

Rodrigo  Bastides    (rod  re'go  bas  terdas) 

Saavedra    (sa'a  va'dra) 

San  Bias    (sanblas) 

San  Pablo    (sanpa'blo) 

Sibert    (se'bert) 

Tehuantepec    (ta  wan'ta  pek') 


SUGGESTIONS  TO  TEACHERS 

THIS  story  of  Panama  may  be  used  for  history 
teaching,  alone,  or  for  its  value  in  geography. 
It  may  be  used  for  story-telling,  or  for  topical  reci- 
tation to  develop  language  power.  The  author  feels 
the  value  of  solving  problems  in  the  classroom  and 
has  tried  to  keep  in  the  foreground  causal  relations 
that  will  stimulate  thinking.  There  are  scores  of 
opportunities  for  the  question  "Why?"  or  "How?" 
Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  one  of  the  most  important 
aims  of  the  school  is  to  make  our  pupils  think;  that 
is,  reason  empirically  from  the  points  suggested  to 
their  own  conclusions.  Good  reasoning  and  the  care- 
ful judgments  which  naturally  follow  are  the  highest 
proofs  of  intellectual  power. 

It  will  lend  interest  to  geography  teaching  if  you 
will  encourage  pupils  to  think  out  the  contents  of 
cargoes  passing  through  the  Canal  after  giving  the 
port  of  clearance  and  the  destination  of  the  ship. 

A  profitable  week  might  be  spent  in  comparing 
and  contrasting  the  Panama  Canal  with  the  Suez, 
the  Welland,  the  "Soo,"  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  and 
others,  as  to  construction,  length,  amount  of  traffic, 
and  other  points. 

Pupils  will  be  greatly  interested  in  making  a  toy 
or  miniature  canal,  and  such  time  is  well  spent 
since  ideas  of  canal  construction  become  more 

191 


192 


Suggestions  to  Teachers 


clear.  They  will  also  enjoy  a  drawing  lesson  on  the 
Canal,  showing  a  side  view  with  the  locks  at  either 
end,  and  the  long  water  bridge. 

It  will  be  illuminating  to  the  children  to  allow 
them  to  figure  out  the  differences  between  distances 
over  the  old  ocean  routes  and  those  by  the  new 
routes  through  Panama,  as  well  as  the  time  saved,  the 
ship's  speed  being  placed  at  twenty  miles  an  hour. 
The  distances  are  given  in  the  following  tables. 

DISTANCES  VIA  PANAMA  TO  WESTERN  PORTS  OF  AMERICA 
FROM  LIVERPOOL,  NEW  YORK,  AND  NEW  ORLEANS  l 


VIA  PANAMA  To 

FROM 
LIVER- 
POOL 

FROM 
NEW 
YORK 

FROM 
NEW 
ORLEANS 

ADVANTAGE  OVER 
LIVERPOOL 

New 
York 

New 
Orleans 

Valparaiso 

7,207 
6,578 
5,937 
5,384 
6,017 
9,276 
7,836 
8,486 
8,606 

4,633 
4,004 
3,363 
2,810 
3,443 
6,702 
5,262 
5,912 
6,032 

4,054 
3,425 
2,784 
2,231 
2,864 
6,123 
4,683 
5,333 
5,453 

2,574 
2,574 
2,574 
2,574 
2,574 
2,574 
2,574 
2,574 
2,574 

3,153 
3,153 
3,153 
3,153 
3,153 
3,153 
3,153 
3,153 
3,153 

Iquique  

Callao  

Guayaquil  
Acapulco  

Honolulu  
San  Francisco.  .  . 
Portland 

Port  Townsend  . 

DISTANCES  FROM  NEW  YORK,  NEW  ORLEANS,  AND  LIVERPOOL 
TO  PRINCIPAL  PORTS  OF  EASTERN  ASIA  AND  OCEANIAI 


To 

New  York 
via 
Panama 

New  Orleans 
via 
Panama 

Liverpool 
by   Shortest 
Route 

Yokohama        .... 

9,798 

9,219 

11,678 

Shanghai  

10,649 

10,070 

10,607 

Hongkong  

11,691 

11,112 

9,785 

Manila 

11  548 

10966 

9701 

Melbourne    . 

10,028 

9,427 

11,654 

Sydney  

9,811 

9,232 

12,235 

Wellington  

8,540 

7,939 

11,975 

1  The  distances  are  in  nautical  miles. 

2  Via  Suez,  except  to  Wellington  via  Strait  of  Magellan. 


Suggestions  to  Teachers  193 

The  teacher  should  keep  in  mind,  however,  that 
distance  is  not  the  only  factor  in  determining  ocean 
routes.  Ocean  currents  and  prevailing  winds  have 
some  effect.  The  location  of  coaling  stations  is 
important,  as  well  as  the  quality  and  cost  of  the  coal 
used.  One  of  the  main  considerations,  however,  is 
the  supply  of  freight  at  both  termini  of  the  route 
and  at  the  way  stations  where  additional  freight 
may  be  obtained.  The  interchangeability  of  freight 
is  perhaps  the  most  important  factor  of  all.  If  both 
termini  of  a  route  have  a  surplus  of  the  same  prod- 
ucts, there  is  no  use  in  shipping  them  from  one  to 
the  other.  Most  of  the  sections  coming  within  the 
sphere  of  the  Panama  Canal  have  products  that 
are  interchangeable.  For  example:  The  western 
coast  of  South  America  offers  a  surplus  of  natural 
products.  Chile  has  nitrates,  copper,  and  very 
small  quantities  of  wheat  and  other  grains.  The 
nitrates  are  needed  by  both  the  United  States  and 
Europe,  and  the  copper  comes  to  the  United  States 
to  be  smelted  and  refined.  In  exchange  for  these 
Chile  takes  food  supplies  and  manufactured  goods, 
and  both  the  United  States  and  Europe  have  man- 
ufactured articles  for  sale  in  great  quantities.  The 
Philippines  and  the  East  Indies  also  have  a  surplus 
of  sugar,  tobacco,  hemp,  and  other  tropical  products, 
while  both  Europe  and  the  United  States  want  these 
articles,  and  are  glad  to  ship  back  manufactures  in 
payment  for  them.  And  it  is  these  manufactured 
commodities  that  the  oriental  countries  want. 

Distance,  then,  may  be  a  minor  consideration  in 


194  Suggestions  to  Teachers 

determining  ocean  routes.  Steamships  must  adjust 
their  business  to  the  needs  of  commerce.  A  steamer 
which  carries  wheat,  corn,  and  meat  from  Argentina 
to  Europe  may  bring  the  silks,  woolens,  and  laces  of 
Europe  to  the  United  States  and  then  return  to 
Argentina  with  agricultural  implements  and  iron 
and  steel  manufactures  from  our  country.  There 
are  many  such  triangular  routes  of  commerce. 

The  youthful  mind  is  perhaps  more  easily  inter- 
ested in  the  deed  than  in  the  characteristics  of  the 
man  who  performs  it.  Still  we  believe  that  this 
story  offers  a  fine  opportunity  to  contrast  a  number 
of  strong  and  unusual  characters  and  to  study  the 
motives  that  actuated  these  men  in  accomplishing 
a  great  result. 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BOOKS 
J.   W.  ABBOTT,  Panama  Canal.     Dodd,  Mead  & 

Company.     1914. 
JOHN  BARRETT,  Panama  Canal:     What  It  Is  and 

What  It  Means.    Pan  American  Union.    1913. 
F.  BISHOP,  Panama,  Past  and  Present.    The  Century 

Company.     1913. 
J.  B.  BISHOP,  The  Panama  Gateway.    Charles  Scrib- 

ner's  Sons.     1913. 
V.  CORNISH,  The  Panama  Canal  and  Its  Makers. 

Unwin.     1909. 
ALBERT  EDWARDS,  Panama,  the  Canal,  the  Country, 

and   the'  People.    The    Macmillan   Company. 

1911. 
F.  A.  CAUSE  AND  CARR,   The  Story  of  Panama. 

Silver,  Burdett  &  Company.     1912. 
F.  J.  HASKEN,   The  Panama  Canal.    Doubleday, 

Page  &  Company.     1914. 
W.  R.  SCOTT,  The  Americans  in  Panama.    Slater 

Publishing  Company.     1912. 
H.  C.  WEIR,  The  Conquest  of  the  Isthmus.    G.  P. 

Putnam's  Sons.     1910. 

MAGAZINES 

The    Canal    Record    (weekly).     War    Department, 
Washington,  D.C. 

195 


196  A  Bibliography 

National  Geographic  Magazine,  February,  1914. 

Pan  American  Union,  July,  1912,  1913-14. 

Pan  American  Magazine,  April,  1912,  March  and 

December,  1913,  February,  1914. 
Scrilmer's,  July,  1913. 
Leslie's,  January,  1914. 
North  American  Magazine,  October,  1912. 
Everybody's,  August,  1912. 
World's  Work,  August,  1912. 
Scientific  American,  February,  1912. 
Century,  December,  1912. 
Ladies'  Home  Journal  (series),  1914-1915. 

For  other  magazine  articles  on  the  subject  of  the 
Canal,  consult  Readers'  Guide. 


Revised,  11)15 


COMMERCIAL  HIGHWAYS 
OP  THE  WORLD 


Principal    Rivers 

mportant  RaiIways-__^___ 

mportant  Steamship  Lfnes(density  of  traffic 
Steamship  Lines -Panama  Canal 


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